Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News
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U.S. Airstrikes in Nigeria Raise Questions Over Focus on ISIS Threat
www.hstoday.us

... Nigerian Government's Position

The Nigerian government has pushed back against characterizations that frame the country's security challenges as primarily anti-Christian persecution.

Following the U.S. designation in October, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stated that characterizing Nigeria as "religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians."

Bayo Onanuga, press secretary to President Tinubu, called Secretary of State Marco Rubio's condemnation of the "slaughter of thousands of Christians" a "gross exaggeration of the Nigerian situation," adding that "Christians, Muslims, churches and mosques are attacked randomly." ...

[emphasis mine]



A lot of people are reacting emotionally to the idea of oil tankers being seized, but most of the outrage comes from not understanding what is actually being discussed.
So let's slow this down and explain it clearly, legally, and step by step.

This is not war.
This is not piracy.
This is judgment enforcement " the same principle used every day when courts seize bank accounts, property, aircraft, or cargo from someone who lost in court and refuses to pay.

1. What Venezuela did (the part that always gets skipped)

In the 2000s, under Hugo Chvez, Venezuela seized oil projects owned by foreign companies, including major U.S. firms such as ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips.

This wasn't a policy disagreement.
It was expropriation:
Contracts were broken
Assets were taken
Compensation that had been agreed to was not paid

That is not controversial. It is historical fact.

2. What the courts decided

Those U.S. companies didn't complain on social media.
They went to international arbitration and U.S. courts " the proper legal venues.

They won.

The rulings were:
Final
Binding
Enforceable

Venezuela lost and was ordered to pay tens of billions of dollars in damages.

3. The real problem: Venezuela refused to pay

Here is the key point most critics ignore:

Venezuela refused to comply with the court judgments.

In any legal system " domestic or international " when a party:
Loses in court
Owes a judgment
Refuses to pay

... the law allows creditors to seize commercial assets belonging to the debtor outside its borders to satisfy the judgment.

This is called judgment enforcement.

Countries do not get a free pass simply because they are countries.

4. Why oil tankers even enter the conversation

Venezuela's primary commercial asset is oil.

Oil moves on oil tankers.

Those tankers:
Carry state-owned Venezuelan oil
Are commercial property, not military or diplomatic assets
Can be lawfully seized by court order in cooperating jurisdictions

This is no different in principle from seizing:
A bank account
A plane
A shipment of goods

Calling this "piracy" is legally incorrect.
Piracy is theft without lawful authority.
This is court-ordered seizure to collect a debt already ruled on.

5. The math everyone avoids

Let's use conservative, realistic numbers so no one can claim exaggeration.
Estimated unpaid court judgments: ~$35 billion
Oil price used: $62 per barrel
Typical large oil tanker (VLCC): ~2 million barrels

Value of one full tanker:
Gross value: ~$124 million
Net value after realistic court-sale discounts: ~$115 million

Now do the math:

$35,000,000,000 $115,000,000 300 tankers

That's where the number comes from.

Not one tanker.
Not ten.
About three hundred.

One tanker only covers about one-third of one percent of what Venezuela owes.

snip ...

When it comes to elections, people in focus groups say they want honest, truthful, and caring leaders who will bring the country together. Then they vote for the most extreme candidate their party offers. Politicians know this, so in many primaries, the candidates compete to be the most extreme. Both sides do it. Republicans are legendary for doing this, and take their extremes to particularly extreme places, but the blue team does it as well. Just watch the primary for NY-12, which stretches from Union Square to the northern end of Central Park in midtown Manhattan. There Republican-turned-temporary-Democrat George Conway and JFK's grandson, Jack Schlossberg, will spend the next 6 months each claiming they HATE Donald Trump with the heat of 100 suns, no 1,000 suns, no make that 10,000 suns, no, I bid 100,000 suns. Working together with him for the good of the country? Are you out of your mind?

Many voters actually feel that unity is a luxury good. When the other side comes to its senses, we can try it, but first they have to be crushed into submission. Then we can talk unity. When Texas drew a new congressional map, did Christians in California turn the other cheek? Are you kidding? When Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) mocked Trump on eX-Twitter and made him look like a fool, did Democrats scold him? No, they made him the (temporary) frontrunner for 2028. This is a revealed preference. Yet when polled, 87% of Democrats and 85% of Republicans say the country is near a breaking point. But when they vote, they choose to make it worse. (V)

The Democratic Congressional letter to Dummkopf Trumpf continues:

"Since the start of the current ceasefire agreement on 10 Oct 2025, at least 356 Palestinians have been killed and more than 900 have been injured by Israeli attacks. On 29 Nov, the IDF killed two brothers, aged 8 and 10, in a drone strike after they crossed into an Israeli-controlled area of Gaza, referring to the children as "suspects" in a statement that failed to acknowledge they were children. The total death toll from the war in Gaza has now surpassed 70,000, including over 20,000 children."

"Additionally, since the beginning of the ceasefire Israeli forces have reportedly destroyed more than 1,500 buildings, many of which did not appear to be damaged prior to being destroyed. These actions raise significant concerns that Israel could be acting in violation of international humanitarian law which prohibits the destruction of civilian property unless absolutely necessary for military operations. We also are gravely concerned that the Israeli government is not allowing sufficient levels of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza."

~snip~

The hardworking American taxpayer has sent Israel, a prosperous nuclear-armed country with world class universal healthcare for its residents and a better ranked social security program than the US, $298 billion since 1948 (www.congress.gov).

An international arrest warrant issued by the ICC for crimes against humanity remains active for Benjamin Netanyahu and the Istanbul Public Prosecutor issued arrest warrants for him and 32 other Israelis accused of committing war crimes. An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law or an international tribunal at the Hague.


Excerpted from the lawsuit:

"The District of Columbia denies law-abiding citizens the ability to register a wide variety of commonly used semi-automatic firearms, such as the Colt AR-15 series rifles, which is among the most popular of firearms in America, and a variety of other semi-automatic rifles and pistols that are in common use."

The lawsuit is seeking a "permanent injunction prohibiting all DC Defendants from arresting and levying fines against otherwise law-abiding citizens for possessing the AR-15 and all other firearms protected by the Second Amendment and being possessed or used for lawful purposes."

The plaintiff, andrew.darlington@usdoj.gov, did not demand a jury trial for this civil case. The Court Clerk has not yet selected which judge in the District of Columbia will try the case and therefore there is no case number yet.

~snip~

In an average year, 174 people die and 927 are wounded by guns in the District of Columbia. Our nation's capital has the highest rate of gun violence in the US. Gun violence costs the District of Columbia $2.0 billion each year, of which $106.4 million is paid by taxpayers ($2,844 per resident each year).

According to the Gun Violence Archive, the US experiences an average of about seven to eight mass shootings per week. There have been 398 mass shootings in the US so far this year, using the definition of four or more people shot in a single incident, excluding the perpetrator. This averages to roughly one mass shooting every 18 hours, or about 7.6 per week.

Below, the utterly repulsive animal-killing oligarchic son of Dummkopf Trumpf poses with an assault rifle which has an Iron Cross attached on its side. The ammunition magazine clip seems to have an image of Hillary Clinton embossed on it.


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