I'm trying to process how it feels to live in an aggressor nation.
Yeah, yeah, I know. There was a time when President Obama bombed the poop out of Libya (March 2011) to pressure dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Obama then essentially did something similar when he ordered American military to fly over Pakistani airspace to kill Osama bin Laden (May 2011) as a response to the Al Qaeda leader's attacks of 9/11. Both actions were carried out without congressional approval, although Obama did have the cover of the Authorization for Use of Military Force, a joint resolution approved by congress in 2001 immediately after 9/11.
In June of 2025, convicted felon president Donald Trump bombed three Iranian nuclear sites without seeking congressional approval. No protection from AUMF on that one.
Later in the year, Trump began blowing up Venezuelan speedboats on the unproven accusation that they were carrying drugs to the United States. Again, there was no congressional approval for this action. More than 100 people have been killed in these strikes so far. Absurdly, all while this is unfolding Trump is publicly pining for a Nobel Peace Prize.
You can go back to 1989 and review the parallel capture of Panama president Manuel Noriega, who had declared war on the United States. That declaration gave American President George H. W. Bush the legal ground he needed to execute the operation.
Maybe I should be used to the United States being an aggressor nation. But when I woke up Saturday morning and turned on the television, the first thing I saw was images of Caracas, Venezuela, being bombed. The chyron running across the bottom of the screen told me that Venezuelan leader Nicholás Maduro and his wife had been captured and were being brought to the United States to face charges of cocaine trafficking and narco-terrorism.
Congress was taken by surprise. Extradition by force of will, if not by force of law. We are not at war with Venezuela, a significant difference from the Noriega affair. And yet, while no American lives were reportedly lost in the operation, perhaps as many as 40 Venezuelans were killed.
People keep dying under Trump.
And there's more.
Trump said in a news presser later in the day that the United States "would run the country (Venezuela) until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition."
Holy shit. Now we're taking over sovereign nations because we don't like their leaders? When did we start doing that? And what does he consider to be "proper" about all of this?
Oh, yeah. I forgot. Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserve. Trump alluded to that in his news presser, mentioning over and over the American oil companies that could help ignite the Venezuelan economy. So there it is, right out there in the daylight: oil. It's always been about the oil. He said it himself. It's never been about drugs. That's why he can pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was prosecuted in the U.S. on multiple counts of drug and arms trafficking and sentenced to 45 years in prison.
Jeez. Maybe Maduro can get a pardon, too.
The corruption is astonishing.
And wait. Wouldn't "running the country" require American boots on the ground? How's that going to pan out? Maduro is a very bad man, but a significant percentage of Venezuela still supports the Maduro regime. If the American military ends up in Venezuela, won't American lives be in jeopardy? At least the American military has gained critical experience in occupation after being sent to quell those non-existent riots in Los Angeles, Washington DC and other American cities. You know. Like they were a training ground.
Does this Venezuelan operation set a precedent for China to attack Taiwan? How about giving Russia's Vladimir Putin license to abduct Ukraine's Volodymir Zelenskyy?
Suddenly the world seems less safe.
This entire Venezuelan operation reeks of distraction. It costs money to sail all those ships, fly all those helicopters and launch all that ordnance. I guess we paid for it with tariff monies. Or maybe Elon Musk chipped in. He's already promising to help fund Republicans in their midterm campaigns.
Congress returns to session on Tuesday, Jan. 6. Does J6 ring a bell? Think there might be some coverage there that a convicted felon president who pardoned all those J6 convicted felons might like to avoid? Oh, yeah. What about affordability? What about measles making a comeback? What about tanking poll numbers?
What about the Epstein files?
There's no better distraction from your failures than dropping bombs and shooting guns.
Process that.
