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Tuesday, December 30, 2025

Trump has claimed that the US had "knocked out" a "big facility" as part of the US campaign targeting alleged drug boats in Latin America and against Venezuela.

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This is an act of war and illegal under both US and international law, let's just be clear about that:

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-- Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) Dec 30, 2025 at 2:52 AM

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Was the big facility "totally obliterated?"

#1 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2025-12-29 05:55 PM | Reply

Apparently, the price of crude is unacceptably low, so the USA is doing something to decrease the supply in order to boost the crude oil price.

#2 | Posted by TrueBlue at 2025-12-29 06:21 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Cui bono.

Latin for follow the money'.

#3 | Posted by TrueBlue at 2025-12-29 06:24 PM | Reply

Another foreign war by the man who fooled MAGA into believing that he hated foreign wars.

#4 | Posted by Zed at 2025-12-29 06:52 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

... President Trump claimed in an interview on Friday that the US had "knocked out" a "big facility" as part of the US campaign ...

Wait, what?

Are we now at war with Venezuela?

A war without a clearly stated end goal?


#5 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-29 07:12 PM | Reply

@#5 ... Are we now at war with Venezuela?

A war without a clearly stated end goal? ...

... and where is the release of the video of the second September 2, 2025 strike against the two survivors of the initial strike?

Why is the Trump administration hiding that video?


#6 | Posted by LampLighter at 2025-12-29 08:09 PM | Reply

Another foreign war by the man who fooled MAGA into believing that he hated foreign wars.

#4 | Posted by Zed

They didn't actually believe it. They just bobble headed along with whatever Dear Leader said.

Just watch. They'll be bookoo fans of bombing Venezuela. They love beating up on the little guy where there's little chance of a loss or embarrassment. That support will vanish in X number of years when the folly becomes fully apparent.

I fell like we've lived this movie before...

www.youtube.com

Start at 5:35.

#7 | Posted by jpw at 2025-12-30 12:50 AM | Reply

No paywall NYT article about the wreckage of Venezuelan boats drifting ashore to Colombia: www.nytimes.com

#8 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2025-12-30 05:38 AM | Reply

No congressional authorization equals murder.
Oh, right, SCOTUS gave Trump (of all people) immunity from the legal consequences of his behavior.
And (for a price) he can pardon his coconspirators and enablers.
You built this, MAGAts.

#9 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2025-12-30 06:41 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

How is Trump better than Maduro?

How is his campaign of Terror not Terrorism?

Machado is a Fascist Traitor,why did she get a Nobel Peace Prize of all things, for Advocating a Military Attack on her Own Country?

Too Dumb.

#10 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-12-30 08:08 AM | Reply

"The CIA carried out a drone strike bombing on Venezuelan soil last week, making it the first U.S. attack inside the country that we know of.

The strike, reported first on Monday night by CNN, hit a dock on the Venezuelan coast that the U.S. administration claims was being used by Tren de Aragua for narcotrafficking. The Trump administration also claimed that the dock was empty when the strike was carried out, resulting in zero casualties.

While Donald Trump vastly expanded the CIA's ability to act independently, they still do not have the authority to carry out land strikes in Venezuela"although that means nothing when they've already extrajudicially murdered dozens of fishermen in Venezuelan waters and quite literally stolen an oil tanker.

While Trump alluded to hitting a "big facility where ships come from" last week, he refused to confirm or deny whether that attack was the one we now know was carried out by the CIA."

newrepublic.com

A 'dock' for small fishing boats is now a 'big facility'?

Imagine that.

#11 | Posted by Corky at 2025-12-30 05:39 PM | Reply

"How is Trump better than Maduro?"

You tell us, since you voted for him.

#12 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-30 06:21 PM | Reply

"They love beating up on the little guy where there's little chance of a loss or embarrassment."

The idea that Venezuela, with the backing of Russia and China, is a "little guy" is laughable.

#13 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-30 06:33 PM | Reply

"Machado is a Fascist Traitor, why did she get a Nobel Peace Prize of all things, for Advocating a Military Attack on her Own Country?"

In late 2025, Mara Corina Machado expressed openness to increased international military pressure and escalation to force Nicols Maduro to step down. While she has not explicitly called for a ground invasion, her support for "escalation" and "strength" is based on the following arguments:

  1. . Enforcement of Electoral Will
    Machado argues that the 2024 presidential election gave a clear mandate for regime change, with over 70% of the population voting for opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzlez. She contends that since Maduro has refused to recognize these results, external "strength" and "pressure" are the only remaining ways to enforce the will of the Venezuelan people.
  2. . View of the Government as a "Criminal Structure"
    She has stated that the Maduro administration is not a "conventional" dictatorship but a "criminal narco-terrorist structure" that cannot be removed through purely diplomatic means. By framing the government as a criminal enterprise rather than a political one, she justifies the use of "law enforcement" and military-style operations to dismantle its funding and control.
  3. . Claim of Pre-existing Foreign "Invasion"
    When questioned about supporting a U.S. invasion, Machado has countered that Venezuela is already "invaded" by foreign actors including:
    Adversarial states: Russian and Iranian agents and Cuban intelligence.
    Non-state actors: Colombian drug cartels, and alleged presences of Hamas and Hezbollah.
    She argues that Venezuela has become a "criminal hub" for these groups, making external intervention a matter of hemispheric security.
  4. . Failure of Previous Diplomatic Efforts
    Machado and her allies have expressed that 26 years of diplomatic negotiations and internal protests have failed to move the government. She maintains that only by significantly "raising the cost of staying in power" through military escalation will Maduro understand that his time is over.
  5. . Alignment with U.S. Strategy
    In 2025, Machado aligned closely with the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" campaign, which included military strikes against suspected drug-smuggling vessels. She has called these U.S. actions "decisive" in weakening the regime and necessary to stop what she describes as Maduro's "war" against his own people.

#14 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-30 06:47 PM | Reply

"Machado is a ... Traitor"

If your country hadn't had a legitimate election since 1998, where the opposition candidate had over 70% of vote in the most recent one but the dictator was still in power, I suspect you'd become a "traitor" to your country too. Especially if they were actively persecuting and trying to imprison you for criticizing it.

#15 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-30 07:00 PM | Reply

"Machado is a Fascist Traitor,why did she get a Nobel Peace Prize of all things, for Advocating a Military Attack on her Own Country?"

Were the members of the White Rose organization in Germany traitors as well?

#16 | Posted by madbomber at 2025-12-31 04:54 AM | Reply

The idea that Venezuela, with the backing of Russia and China, is a "little guy" is laughable.

#13 | Posted by sentinel

The only thing laughable is this take.

Venezuela wouldn't last more than a few weeks in a conventional war against the US. China and Russia aren't going to directly intervene.

They'll just ensure the same thing that happened in Iraq happens again - the nonconventional war is protracted, bloody and expensive, thus bleeding the US dry of a generation of young men and money we don't have because we're too stupid to simply walk away.

#17 | Posted by jpw at 2025-12-31 10:30 AM | Reply

"the same thing that happened in Iraq"

False comparison. Iraq was already contained before the second Gulf War. Venezuela is already causing regional instability with 25% of their population displaced, even worse than the mass migration caused by Syria, and have declared their intention to annex 2/3 of a neighboring country's territory.

#18 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-31 11:24 AM | Reply

#16 The White Rose movement was a resistance to Fascism. They tried to stop murders of Jews and other innocent people.

Machado is a street thug. The Resistance movement in
Venezuela is Right wing in Nature. They don't want Democracy,they don't want justice, they want Power.

Foreign Influence is the key to Machado. The Female Juan Guido, Lol.

She isn't about human rights or prosperity, she is about getting rich and enabling access to National oil and resources to the US for a Fee. Drugs aren't even on the Radar. That's a Red Herring.

A far Cry from Student leaflets calling for Justice for the oppressed.

GFY with your Nazi Allusions.

Israel, the love of Machado, is closer to Nazism the Bolivarian Revolution ever was.

You are Blinded by Ideology.

Should Israel be Attacked and Regime Changed?

HAMAS wants it, are they Credible?

#19 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-12-31 12:44 PM | Reply

Venezuela would have no Incentive to eff with Guyana if they were not being Sanctioned and Blockaded illegally for not being the "Right" kind of Economic System.

Ever think about that?

#20 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-12-31 12:52 PM | Reply

#15 Define Legitimate. Jimmy Carter said the Venezuelan elections were Kosher and he's more credible than you.

Amnesty International said the same thing, they are also more credible than some rando guy on the Retort.

The fact is there is so much propaganda around the Bolivarian Revolution that the facts are in dispute about almost everything in Venezuela.

#21 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-12-31 12:58 PM | Reply

Venezuela's 2024 presidential election did not meet international standards of electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic.

The Carter Center cannot verify or corroborate the results of the election declared by the National Electoral Council (CNE), and the electoral authority's failure to announce disaggregated results by polling station constitutes a serious breach of electoral principles.

Venezuela's electoral process did not meet international standards of electoral integrity at any of its stages and violated numerous provisions of its own national laws.

www.cartercenter.org

#22 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-31 01:05 PM | Reply

Machado is a Western Stooge like Guido was.

The 70% of the Electorate voting for her proxy claims, have never survived scrutiny.

The Venezuelan Supreme Court asked for proof.

She claimed the ballots had been destroyed somehow,and refused to give even partial tallies before begging the US to attack her own Countrymen.

TRAITOR.

#23 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-12-31 01:08 PM | Reply

"Machado is a street thug. The Resistance movement in
Venezuela is Right wing in Nature. They don't want Democracy,they don't want justice, they want Power."

You might as well have copied and pasted that directly from an official statement from the Maduro regime. They're literally saying that about everyone who publicly disagrees with them in any way.

They treated the election observers like "terrorists" in the same way Noem claimed anyone who filmed ICE raids are also "terrorists".

#24 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-31 01:11 PM | Reply

"Western Stooge"

It's pretty clear that you'll believe any Anti-American propaganda that gets dumped into your feed.

#25 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-31 01:16 PM | Reply

Look man, I just don't like the bitch.

She's a liar.

Maduro isn't perfect but he is Legitimate.

As much as Trump or Bibi, or Putin are.

I mean, who's business is it who runs Venezuela?

The people there or the US and it's economic interests?

Maduro isn't going anywhere. And he shouldn't.

Not on the say so of a Lying Right wWing Turd like Machado.

No matter what people in the US say.

Just Sayin'.

#26 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-12-31 01:18 PM | Reply

#24 That's an extraordinary claim.

If the Maduro government treated election observers like "Terrorists", why did Amnesty International say the election was as legitimate as US elections?

They were Observing the Election.

Which observers were targeted as terrorists?

Link?

#27 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-12-31 01:41 PM | Reply

I looked more deeply. I am incorrect about several points. I Acknowledge my mistakes.

Maduro did seem to have his thumb on the scale.

There May have been some irregularities about the vote.

But even if there were, Venezuelan Sovereignty isn't America's Business.

We don't Meddle in Israeli politics.

Only Latin American and Middle Eastern Muslim politics.

And Ukrainian politics, and Russian politics.

You get the point.

Its about Control,not Justice.

#28 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-12-31 02:00 PM | Reply

"Link?"

I know you'll probably just ignore this, like you did with the earlier link to the Carter Center, but:

www.amnesty.org

The state authorities who have held power since at least 2014 have committed grave and massive human rights violations, including possible crimes against humanity, and have led the country into a complex humanitarian emergency that has pushed more than 25% of the population to flee Venezuela, leaving their homes and families behind.

The months leading up to this election have been marked by incessant attacks on civic space, tens of arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture, reprisals against businesses and contractors providing services to opposition figures, and arbitrary and abusive administrative measures.

We are calling in the strongest possible terms for the immediate and unconditional release of all people arbitrarily detained for political reasons in the country, including Roco San Miguel, Javier Tarazona and Carlos Julio Rojas.

Ana Piquer, Americas Director at Amnesty International.


english.elpais.com
Amnesty International has warned that forced disappearances in Venezuela have escalated following the presidential elections on July 28, 2024, and have become part of a systematic pattern of persecution against government dissidents.

On Tuesday, Amnesty International Secretary General Agns Callamard called for the International Criminal Court to advance investigations into crimes against humanity in the South American country, documented since 2014, and urged the international community to support the pursuit of justice through the use of universal jurisdiction in human rights cases, as Argentina has already done.

#29 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-31 02:01 PM | Reply

"I am incorrect about several points. I Acknowledge my mistakes."

Okay, fair enough, but maybe you should educate yourself before taking a strong position based on a feeling of "I hate the bitch", as you admitted earlier.

"Its about Control, not Justice."

It's about 8 million people being displaced, causing havoc in the neighboring countries, in conjunction with international cartel gangs. It's no coincidence that the only countries who recognize Maduro as legitimate are the same ones who take glee at seeing "the west" destabilized.

#30 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-31 02:09 PM | Reply

I respect the conclusions of Amnesty International as posted.

Still Not America's place to Enforce them.

Not while Embracing Murder and Ethnic Cleansing on industrial scale in Palestine.

The Hypocrisy stinks a little TOO much.

It's kinda funny how all this is SO Important, but the ongoing Murders of 100,000 people are not our concern.,and in fact are encouraged by public policy.

Being CHOSEN means everything is Permissible. And complaining about that is a "Terrorist" Act.

Lol.

#31 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-12-31 02:11 PM | Reply

The Illegal and Immoral Sanctions on both Cuba and Venezuela are the driving force behind the displacement. Starving people run to safety.

End the Sanctions, then Deal with Maduro.

But if they did that would the people want him gone anymore? That's the question.

Trump doesn't want to find out.

Machado has no more credibility than Juan Guido had.

The US created the problem it now seeks to "Solve" in a totally self serving way.

I trust Maduro more than the US excuses for War.

Even if he is corrupt and self serving Too.

At least he's Venezuelan.

#32 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-12-31 02:19 PM | Reply

"The state authorities who have held power since at least 2014 have committed grave and massive human rights violations, including possible crimes against humanity,..."

Enough about President Piggy, tell us about Venezuela

#33 | Posted by truthhurts at 2025-12-31 02:41 PM | Reply

'The US created the problem it now seeks to "Solve" in a totally self serving way.
I trust Maduro more than the US excuses for War.
Even if he is corrupt and self serving Too.'

Like I said, you'll fall for any anti-American slop that shows up in your feed. You trust Maduro, Hamas, Putin, et al, over anyone in "the west", regardless of each party's degrees of being self-serving.

"At least he's Venezuelan."

As are the 70% who voted against him, and the numerous political dissidents who couldn't vote because they were imprisoned or killed.

#34 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-31 02:44 PM | Reply

When did Venezuela become SO important?

Why?

A little clue.

This isn't about Social Justice. Or "Democracy", Trump doesn't care about either of those things, in Fact, he actively undermines them.

This is about Hegemony and Imperialist Resouce Extraction.

Just more of the same BS, using the fear of "Communism" to attack other countries for being Resouce Rich and Militarily Weak.

A Strong Arm Theft by the State.

#35 | Posted by Effeteposer at 2025-12-31 03:26 PM | Reply

"This isn't about Social Justice. Or "Democracy", Trump doesn't care about either of those things

Never said he did. That doesn't mean there isn't a valid reason for the US to coordinate with other countries in the region to tamp down on one of the most destabilizing factors in the region. But of course, you blame the US for everything that goes wrong in the world, and side with the despotic dictators-for-life every time.

#36 | Posted by sentinel at 2025-12-31 04:12 PM | Reply

"tamp down on one of the most destabilizing factors in the region."

Chinese Fentanyl?

#37 | Posted by snoofy at 2025-12-31 04:16 PM | Reply

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