Althouse: "To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY."

November 29, 2025

"To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY."

Writes Donald J. Trump, on X, thanking us for our attention to this matter.

111 comments:

The Vault Dweller said...: I hope we don't invade Venezuela.; 11/29/25, 8:16 AM
rehajm said...: I could be wrong but I think he’s implying closing the airspace for those things means opening the airspace to drop other things?; 11/29/25, 8:19 AM
Freder Frederson said...: Isn't blockading a country's airspace (and ports for that matter) an act of war? Why hasn't he asked Congress for a war declaration, or at least an AUMF?; 11/29/25, 8:20 AM
Dave Begley said...: Fair warning.; 11/29/25, 8:22 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Nice to see him totally embrace the “Speak softly” part of the old maxim.; 11/29/25, 8:23 AM
Gerda Sprinchorn said...: Jeez. Not again.; 11/29/25, 8:26 AM
Kakistocracy said...: Failing in his attempts to win the Nobel Peace Price by handing of Ukraine to Russia, Trump is going for the unusual strategy of starting a war to receive it.

Today he also pardoned the former president of Honduras who was jailed for 45 years for drug trafficking.

“The US president said Hernández had been "treated very harshly and unfairly" in a social media post announcing the move on Friday. Hernández was found guilty in March 2024 of conspiring to import 400 tons cocaine into the US, and of possessing machine guns. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison.”

And yet he pretends this Venezuela thing is about drugs.

They really take their voters for complete dummies… And looking at the evidence so far, seemingly with good reason.

“It is a bold strategy, Cotton, lets see if it pays off for him.”; 11/29/25, 8:27 AM
Mr. Majestyk said...: "I hope we don't invade Venezuela"

If we do invade Venezuela, I hope he doesn't make it the 51st state. That would mess things up. Canada should be #51, Greenland should be #52, and THEN Venezuela can be #53.

Okay, everyone calm down. I'm just kidding.; 11/29/25, 8:27 AM
narciso said...: What exactly would the possums deliberate on,; 11/29/25, 8:28 AM
narciso said...: They forget their old scripts
https://t.co/lvf2Myr9GP; 11/29/25, 8:32 AM
Peachy said...: All bad things lead to the American Democratic Biden party.
coke up their noses and dirty money in their pockets.
Why they mad.; 11/29/25, 8:32 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: "Kakistocracy said...
Failing in his attempts to win the Nobel Peace Price"

When the Nobel committee awarded the most recent Nobel Peace Prize to María Corina Machado, that was the "International Community" saying Venezuela and the Maduro regime are on the outs.; 11/29/25, 8:32 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: “Stabroek Block”; 11/29/25, 8:32 AM
Mary Beth said...: Okay, everyone calm down. I'm just kidding.
11/29/25, 8:27 AM

I'm glad you included that so I didn't have to say that they'll need to become territories first. No one gets to go straight to statehood, especially Canadia.; 11/29/25, 8:34 AM
Peachy said...: Kak-a-phony does not remember that María Corina Machado - accepted the award and dedicated it to one... President Donald Trump.; 11/29/25, 8:39 AM
Kakistocracy said...: More distractions away from the Epstein scandal.; 11/29/25, 8:40 AM
Peachy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/29/25, 8:41 AM
Peachy said...: Hillary can take out Kaddafi... which caused regional destabilization.
But if we nudge the removal of a disgraced South American Socialist DICTATOR who impoverished his nation and who is essentially a destabilizing drug lord... -
the American left cry "no fair and boo hoo!"; 11/29/25, 8:42 AM
Jaq said...: Wow, you mean they shut down airspace when combat operations are underway? Whodathunkit? I thought that the proper procedure was to try any soldiers who are under the stress of the other side trying to kill them with aircraft, in absentia, and convict them then of war crimes! What will they think of next?; 11/29/25, 8:42 AM
Jaq said...: Trump should win the Nobel Peace prize for kicking MI-6 out of Bosnia, where they were attempting to start a civil war that was guaranteed to drag NATO and Russia into it, being on Russia's border.

Instead, the "Nobel Peace Prize" goes to a woman who was a "democracy fellow" at a Yale institute where future quislings are trained, and this winner of the "peace prize" has called for war against her own country.; 11/29/25, 8:46 AM
Cappy said...: If Tucker loves Maduro so much he can move there and defend the worker's state.; 11/29/25, 8:47 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Big problem for the Democrats' election strategy because they don't really think their victory is about better messaging.; 11/29/25, 8:49 AM
Jaq said...: I think that, like the Nobel Prize in literature, which was not awarded to Mark Twain or Philip Roth, not winning it is the greater distinction,; 11/29/25, 8:50 AM
Kakistocracy said...: Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. Somebody wants a deal ?; 11/29/25, 8:51 AM
Jaq said...: "If Tucker loves Maduro so much he can move there and defend the worker's state."

Right about the time the people baying for blood climb aboard troop ships for the invasion.; 11/29/25, 8:51 AM
Iman said...: Forewarned is foreskinned…; 11/29/25, 8:57 AM
The Vault Dweller said...: "Kakistocracy said...
Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. Somebody wants a deal ?"

I've been wondering if Trump is ramping up pressure on Venezuela as a bargaining chip with China. Venezuela trades almost half it's Oil production to China. China has a strong interest in maintaining the status quo in Venezuela. The US attacks on Venezuelan boats in the Gulf are framed as attacking drug traffickers. This airspace closure is also framed as dealing with drug traffickers. Given China's history of the Opium wars and Britain trafficking drugs into China to weaken it, Trump telling China, "I have to do this because I need to protect my people from foreign drug corruption," is rhetorically a very powerful 'because' in negotiating with China. He conceivably get China to bargain more in trade to get the US to relent.; 11/29/25, 8:59 AM
Peachy said...: The Epstein scandal snared a bunch of Democrats.
ooops - Kaka loses again.

Kak tell us why Stacy Plaskett(D) was texting Jeffrey Epstein during a hearing with Trump's ex-lawyer? Tell us why Jeffrey Epstein was telling Plaskett(D) WHAT TO SAY...
'Good girl' - Jeffrey was please he had control over a Democratic - there to harm Trump as much as possible.

Epstein in on Team CORRUPTOCRAT; 11/29/25, 9:02 AM
Bob Boyd said...: The overwhelming US military power that has been assembled will likely prevent a war in Venezuela. Maduro will be shown the door and he will use it. Venezuelan soldiers won't fight and die in a battle they know they can't win only to prop up a greedy dictator and his narco cartel buddies. A new Venezuelan President will be elected in a legit election for a change.
The Cuban government won't last long after that. They're dependent on Venezuela.
Or something else entirely will happen because, unlike 99% of people on the internets, I could be wrong.; 11/29/25, 9:05 AM
Peachy said...: I think Tucker an Bill Kristol should join forces. perhaps some Cheney sprinkles on top.; 11/29/25, 9:06 AM
Peachy said...: Bob Boyd - I really hope you are right.
I've been waiting for the Castro family to burn in hell for decades.; 11/29/25, 9:08 AM
Peachy said...: and; 11/29/25, 9:08 AM
Paul said...: They are brazenly poisoning America with their drugs. Sending boats and makeshift subs as well as planes full of drugs. And the Venezuelan government is part of it.

If that is not a declaration of war, what is?; 11/29/25, 9:09 AM
Beasts of England said...: ’Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world.’

Of extra heavy crude, i.e., garbage.; 11/29/25, 9:11 AM
Aggie said...: "...More distractions away from the Epstein scandal. ..."

You know, it's funny you mentioned that. Just a little while ago, I was reflecting on the tens of thousands of documents that were the first trove of Epstein files, released a few weeks ago now, and since then..... crickets. Haven't gotten around to scanning them, word-searching 'Trump'? Or is the situation worse: Scans reveal all the wrong people being mentioned, and none of the right ones?; 11/29/25, 9:11 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: No Venezuela covets their neighbors’ offshore oil fields and wanted Chinese help acquiring it, hence the sudden invocation of the Donroe Doctrine.; 11/29/25, 9:12 AM
Kevin said...: Isn't blockading a country's airspace (and ports for that matter) an act of war? Why hasn't he asked Congress for a war declaration, or at least an AUMF?

Perhaps because, for now, he's not actively blockading it. We're not overflying the airspace and shooting down anyone who enters.

He's just saying they should act like it's closed, and if they choose to do so, so be it.

Trump is actually smarter than you. It would help your posts if you start with that in mind.; 11/29/25, 9:18 AM
Peachy said...: Hakeem Jeffares(D) begged Epstein for campaign money.
*crickets*; 11/29/25, 9:20 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: Paul said...
“They are brazenly poisoning America with their drugs. Sending boats and makeshift subs as well as planes full of drugs. And the Venezuelan government is part of it.

If that is not a declaration of war, what is?”

In the event that legalities matter, trafficking isn’t a declaration of war.

It’s a criminal enterprise, and the U.S. already treats it as such—through federal law, DOJ prosecutions, sanctions, and interdiction operations.

A declaration of war is a legal act made by Congress under Article I of the U.S. Constitution, not a trigger happy egomaniac president or a drunken head of the DOD.

Criminal activity doesn’t automatically give them wartime authority or change the rules of engagement.

If we start calling every criminal act a ‘war,’ then police shootings become ‘acts of war,’ cartel busts become ‘warfare,’ and every agency becomes a combatant. That’s not how the U.S. government defines or authorizes military force.

But once you crown a king and accept him as king, we’ll….here we are.; 11/29/25, 9:32 AM
Achilles said...: "To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY."

This is not a good idea.

He should be going to congress first. Trump is listening to Neocons again.

Neither Rubio nor Vance will not win the general in 2028 if Trump starts a war with Venezuela.

Vance or Rubio will either be primaried out to someone who promises to not start foreign wars or he will lose in the general because millions stay home.; 11/29/25, 9:32 AM
Achilles said...: Bob Boyd said...

The overwhelming US military power that has been assembled will likely prevent a war in Venezuela. Maduro will be shown the door and he will use it.

This isn't how we are supposed to be doing things.

People are upset that the Constitutional process is not being followed.

Congress has a fucking job and they need to do it. They need to stop hiding behind the filibuster bullshit. Trump is going to destroy this movement because he is not making Congress do their job.

I think the Constitution was doomed to fail because of the weakness of men. You can't "emergency action" a hostile move like this. Especially when it is Mexico that is sending most of the drugs, not Venezuela.; 11/29/25, 9:36 AM
rehajm said...: sa·ber-rat·tling: overtly and often exaggeratedly threatening actions or statements (such as verbal threats or ostentatious displays of military power) that are meant to intimidate an enemy by suggesting possible use of force

Thank you Webster…; 11/29/25, 9:37 AM
Achilles said...: Cappy said...

If Tucker loves Maduro so much he can move there and defend the worker's state.

Oh here we go again.

Calling people who don't want the President to start unilateral wars traitors is a really fucking stupid idea unless you are a Democrat that wants to watch over half of MAGA walk away from Trump.; 11/29/25, 9:38 AM
rehajm said...: …or if you prefer a more Trumpian term: locker room!; 11/29/25, 9:39 AM
Achilles said...: Peachy said...

I think Tucker an Bill Kristol should join forces. perhaps some Cheney sprinkles on top.

I absolutely expected this retard to abandon the Constitution at the first chance to start a new war without Congress.

I also expected the dishonest traitor democrat bullshit.; 11/29/25, 9:40 AM
Achilles said...: Dave Begley said...

Fair warning.

For what?; 11/29/25, 9:41 AM
D.D. Driver said...: This is not a good idea.

Part of Trump's allure (even as a hater) was that he really was America First and was the only antidote to the neocon foreign policy. I think he is old and feebleminded and we are getting Bidened again. Tell me when regime change has ever worked out well for American soldiers and the taxpayers who love them.; 11/29/25, 9:43 AM
Freder Frederson said...: He should be going to congress first.

Well, that's a first! Achilles and I agree on something.; 11/29/25, 9:48 AM
Money Manger said...: For an interesting visual, go to the map of current international airline traffic—flights now in the air. As always the airspace over North America is very full; with a big doughnut hole over the country of Venezuela.; 11/29/25, 9:51 AM
narciso said...: Sochins rosneft investment is going to be discounted heavily; 11/29/25, 9:52 AM
Peachy said...: Did Achilles just call Trump a "retard"? cool.; 11/29/25, 9:54 AM
Peachy said...: Achilles asks - "for what?"
You tell us- Trucker-Owens-Fuentes know it all.; 11/29/25, 9:55 AM
Achilles said...: The Vault Dweller said...

I've been wondering if Trump is ramping up pressure on Venezuela as a bargaining chip with China. Venezuela trades almost half it's Oil production to China. China has a strong interest in maintaining the status quo in Venezuela. The US attacks on Venezuelan boats in the Gulf are framed as attacking drug traffickers. This airspace closure is also framed as dealing with drug traffickers. Given China's history of the Opium wars and Britain trafficking drugs into China to weaken it, Trump telling China, "I have to do this because I need to protect my people from foreign drug corruption," is rhetorically a very powerful 'because' in negotiating with China. He conceivably get China to bargain more in trade to get the US to relent.

There is a right way to do this and a wrong way to do this.

I agree that this is what the War Trump has started is all about. It is a good idea. It makes sense to have friendly democratic regimes to our South who aren't shipping discounted Oil to China.

But saying it is about drugs when almost all of the drugs are made in Mexico is not a good plan. Everyone knows that most of the drugs are made in Mexico so everyone knows that this is a pretense.

One of the main problems that people have with democrats is being forced to lie about things like men being women.

Now we are being forced to lie about a pretense for war. This is not how to handle this. Trump is listening to Rubio and the neocons too much. If he just came out and said we want cheaper oil for the US and fuck China and Maduro he would get a lot more support.; 11/29/25, 9:58 AM
Big Mike said...: Well, so much for Trump getting a Nobel Peace Prize.; 11/29/25, 10:01 AM
narciso said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/29/25, 10:01 AM
Achilles said...: Peachy said...

Did Achilles just call Trump a "retard"? cool.

Everyone on this board knows who the retard is. You can't make a serious argument. Go sit down in a corner somewhere.

Go read the Constitution and look up the part where Congress has an enumerated power to declare war while you are at it.; 11/29/25, 10:01 AM
Ampersand said...: Public support is not optional.; 11/29/25, 10:05 AM
Peachy said...: Achilles - You're the flip side of Inag.; 11/29/25, 10:12 AM
Peachy said...: BTW- Achilles - you didn't answer your own question.

"For what?"
You're so certain we are going to war. Tell us all about it.
since you have insider knowledge.; 11/29/25, 10:14 AM
Bob Boyd said...: We're already in a war. It's a hybrid war. The 2 parties have already been taken and are occupied territory.
Venezuela is a major FOB for the enemy. Not just drugs, but the illegal alien invasion and world wide election interference. Maybe we can change that.
Trump didn't ask me what to do or how to do it, but I'm hoping he succeeds. I do believe he loves this country and is trying to save it. He's just a man after all. Who else is there?
The perfect is the enemy of the good.

I don't understand your thinking when you say you require strict adherence to the Constitution, but at the same time you say you have no faith in the Constitution and that it's doomed.
When I say I don't understand it, I'm genuinely interested in your take.; 11/29/25, 10:15 AM
hombre said...: Too much, Donald!; 11/29/25, 10:16 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: Interesting take Achilles- it isn’t about the grift but rather the exposure of the grift. Don’t do it like the two oil men of the 2000s did it and claim it was WMD and just say they want the oil?

As you admit, everyone knows the drugs are coming from Mexico so just stop it about Venezuela and the lie of the pretense of this war.

So, what’s the justification that Congress is suppose to give to declare war? Oil? We just want the minerals?

And why are Trumpers still rejoicing and defending the boat murders? As you say, we all know where the drugs are really coming from and this premises is a lie.; 11/29/25, 10:20 AM
n.n said...: George "Fentanyl' Floyd Syndrome. Black lives matter.; 11/29/25, 10:20 AM
Peachy said...: I love it.
Ronald Ward and Achilles - on the same page.
All drugs come from Mexico and only Mexico!
"Everyone Knows!"; 11/29/25, 10:22 AM
n.n said...: Emigration reform? Perhaps another ethnic Spring with CAIR.; 11/29/25, 10:23 AM
narciso said...: Mexico was the adjacent distribution point because of the open border now thats close they need to find another avenue; 11/29/25, 10:24 AM
narciso said...: You did notice some of the strikes were in the pacific right; 11/29/25, 10:24 AM
Achilles said...: Bob Boyd said...

I don't understand your thinking when you say you require strict adherence to the Constitution, but at the same time you say you have no faith in the Constitution and that it's doomed.
When I say I don't understand it, I'm genuinely interested in your take.

You can debate whether or not you think Trump should replace Maduro or not.

I think replacing him would be a good idea. I think that a leader like Trump should be able to go to the people and say you elected me to do X so I am going to do X. Reducing gas prices and crime in the US would be a good use of our military in my opinion. Most Americans would support that.

Now you have to look at the Constitution and the system and process it creates. The Constitution puts in place a system and a process for the President to take the country to war. It was meant to keep the President from getting involved in the European nonsense that was going on at the time.

In my opinion the Founders were very prescient for the most part. But they failed to see the degradation of the moral fiber of the country and how this would lead to a venal and worthless congress full of cowards, blowhards, and weaklings who will take money from anyone and sit on their thumbs all day spinning like a top.

This country is too large to elect a useful congress. We can at most focus on one person during an election. People don't want to spend time trying to figure out who the other 3 people that are sending to DC to represent them. That is why the Senate and Congress are so pathetic.

We never should have given congress the powers that it has. It was always going to turn out to be a worthless institution full or worthless people.; 11/29/25, 10:28 AM
narciso said...: Now these boat transits began after grenells round of negotiations for prisoners; 11/29/25, 10:29 AM
Inga said...: “And why are Trumpers still rejoicing and defending the boat murders? As you say, we all know where the drugs are really coming from and this premises is a lie.”

The narrative had to change, they hope we didn’t notice.; 11/29/25, 10:30 AM
n.n said...: A lot of lives would have been saved with no fly zones established during the Obama/Biden/Clinton ethnic Springs with CAIR.; 11/29/25, 10:32 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: And about this Hernández pardoning thing, doesn’t this undermine the entire war on drugs narrative- let the snakes go and keep going after their tails?

Or is Trump saying “the hell with drug traffickers, I just want a cut”?; 11/29/25, 10:32 AM
boatbuilder said...: More distractions away from the Epstein scandal.
How quaint. Remember the Epstein Scandal?
That went away because it was all Democrats. But that was last week, so time to reload.; 11/29/25, 10:34 AM
Peachy said...: those poor boats.

why don't leftwing Democratics care at all about the massive Child Sex trafficking that increased by magnitudes after Biden opened our Sothern Border to illegals?; 11/29/25, 10:34 AM
narciso said...: Realistically though what are the tda huggers going to say about this; 11/29/25, 10:35 AM
Gospace said...: Mike (MJB Wolf) said...
No Venezuela covets their neighbors’ offshore oil fields and wanted Chinese help acquiring it, hence the sudden invocation of the Donroe Doctrine.
Maduro covets the oil fields of Guyana and claims half of Guyana is really Venezuelan territory. And has been saber rattling threatening military action to take that half over- the half that the newly discovered offshore oil lies.

What is the constitutional process for forcing regime change in other countries? We did it with direct military action in Libya- which left the Libyans worse off. With no declaration of war or AUMF. We did it in South Vietnam way back when. We've done it al over the smaller countries of Eastern Europe formed around the time of the iron curtain breakup. We did it in Ukraine bringing Zelensky to power. And that's just a few examples. Totally against the expressed principles of our first president who said basically- their problems are theirs, not ours.; 11/29/25, 10:36 AM
narciso said...: Seriously though cabello is the head of the sun cartel who rrallt runs things dowm there he has the ties to hezbollah and the revolutionary guard; 11/29/25, 10:37 AM
Achilles said...: Ronald J. Ward said...

So, what’s the justification that Congress is suppose to give to declare war? Oil? We just want the minerals?

Yes.

Everyone knows that this is what war has always been about. It is what war will always be about. Either China controls Venezuela or we do. Great powers shape the space around them. That is how the world has always worked.

The US armed forces are funded and manned by the American people and it exists to make sure our interests are addressed.

The oil is actually less important to the US than the Rare Earths. To be honest that is what this is about. If we have access to the Rare Earths that will take the biggest hold China has on the world away from them.

People do not understand how deadly serious the Rare Earths situation is or how many people would die if China decided to embargo them completely.; 11/29/25, 10:38 AM
narciso said...: Diosdado Cabello Rondón - United States Department of State https://share.google/o9WwF3wHDklCmCrTQ; 11/29/25, 10:39 AM
Achilles said...: Ronald J. Ward said...

And why are Trumpers still rejoicing and defending the boat murders? As you say, we all know where the drugs are really coming from and this premises is a lie.

If a President allows men in a foreign country to get on a boat full of drugs and guns and invade the United States in order to attack US citizens they should be charged with Treason and hanged publicly.

Yes Joe Biden and Barrack Obama and the Bushes were all open borders scum who let foreign combatants invade us with guns and drugs.

Obama sold them guns to invade us with.

All of them aided and abetted foreign soldiers who were attacking us.; 11/29/25, 10:43 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: You’ve just made my point for me.

If the justification for war is ‘because great powers take what they want,’ then there’s no legal or constitutional argument left—just raw might. But that’s not how the U.S. military is authorized to operate.

Under Article I, Congress must approve war, and they can’t do that by saying, ‘We want their minerals.’

Strategic interests can justify sanctions, diplomacy, economic pressure, or competition.

They don’t automatically justify war under U.S. law.

If you’re saying war should simply be about grabbing resources before China does, then you’re no longer talking about constitutional government or defense of the American people.
You’re talking about empire. And Congress has no authority to declare an imperial resource war, even if some people think it’s convenient.; 11/29/25, 10:45 AM
narciso said...: Lets be clear who the target is, and what it entails

Bolton tried to pull this off, with one dissident general from the sun cartel and a bunch of mercs grenell just finished recovering; 11/29/25, 10:46 AM
narciso said...: Wow he really does strive to be stupid; 11/29/25, 10:47 AM
Achilles said...: Ronald J. Ward said...

And about this Hernández pardoning thing, doesn’t this undermine the entire war on drugs narrative- let the snakes go and keep going after their tails?

Or is Trump saying “the hell with drug traffickers, I just want a cut”?

So I just read up on that situation.

It looks like Biden and the CIA installed a socialist in Honduras named Castro and the point of prosecuting Hernandez was the Biden administration protecting a Castro socialist regime.

It looks like Biden was just more surreptitious about meddling in Honduras.; 11/29/25, 10:49 AM
narciso said...: The wife of zelaya the last figurehead chavez tried to slip in
The military deposed him; 11/29/25, 10:51 AM
Achilles said...: Ronald J. Ward said...

You’ve just made my point for me.

If the justification for war is ‘because great powers take what they want,’ then there’s no legal or constitutional argument left—just raw might. But that’s not how the U.S. military is authorized to operate.

If China embargoes Rare Earths and drug precursors thousands if not millions of people in the US die.

The military exists to keep things like that from happening.; 11/29/25, 10:52 AM
Jupiter said...: "Not just drugs, but the illegal alien invasion and world wide election interference."
Finally, someone mentions the elephant.; 11/29/25, 10:58 AM
narciso said...: There is that with smart matic / dominion; 11/29/25, 11:01 AM
Kakistocracy said...: Not every cocaine trafficker is necessarily bad ~ Donald Trump Jr.

The 2024 election was always about pardoning Honduran drug kingpin Juan Orlando Hernández. If Kamala Harris and the Democrats didn't understand that, shame on them.; 11/29/25, 11:03 AM
narciso said...: So that rat i linked above is the mr big the franz sanchez of the business; 11/29/25, 11:08 AM
Bruce Hayden said...: Love Trump’s pithy quotes.

But underlying it, is the reality that Obama and Biden, after 200 years, abandoned the Monroe Doctrine. How dare the President prevent European and, esp here, Asian, powers from meddling in the Western Hemisphere? Well, Trump has announced that it’s back. And China is being kicked out of our private lake (the Gulf of America). If China weren’t trading fentanyl precursors for oil with Venezuela, I think it likely that we would just be leaning on that country, and not engaged, at least to tokenly, militarily. I; 11/29/25, 11:10 AM
narciso said...: If we only had institutions that could explain these events we would even have an amendment for them; 11/29/25, 11:12 AM
Kakistocracy said...: Good to see our “no more foreign entanglements” president at work.

Threatening violence on Canada, Greenland, Mexico, Panama, Gaza, Iran, Venezuela, etc.

I probably forgot a few.

Still, I look forward to the New Venezuela, which will likely look much like Libya after Gaddafi..

OTOH

Speaking the unspoken, the following has to be in someone’s thoughts.

A small band of rebels invades on one of Venezuela’s peripheries. It is given strong American airpower backing and defeats the local government forces sent to oppose it. Those defeated join the rebels.

This sequence is repeated. A river forms.

Trump is not deterred by prior American failures and exposed successes of the above variety. Success in this venture forms its own justification.; 11/29/25, 11:13 AM
Ronald J. Ward said...: Achilles, it would be fascinating to know where you “read up” on current events because nothing you just wrote matches the documented timeline.

Hernández wasn’t prosecuted to ‘protect a socialist regime.’

He was prosecuted because U.S. federal prosecutors under Trump filed charges against him in 2021 for trafficking tons of cocaine into the U.S., bribery, and weapons offenses.

Biden wasn’t even in office yet when that case was built and Castro wasn’t ‘installed by Biden or the CIA.’

She won a democratic election in Honduras by about 15 points, and Hernández actually tried to fight her win.

So what you’re calling ‘surreptitious meddling’ is just: Trump DOJ starts the case, Hernández leaves office, Honduras elects someone else, and Biden DOJ continues the prosecution.

You’re stitching unrelated events together to get a political narrative that doesn’t align with the actual record.

Back to your advocated power grab, it would change the entire dynamics of global power.

If the U.S. openly embraced a doctrine of ‘attack countries to seize their resources before China does,’ we’d be abandoning the entire post–WW2 world order we created—international law, alliances, economic agreements, and the constitutional limits on when we can use force.

That move wouldn’t just escalate competition; it would collapse the global system that lets the U.S. lead without needing to conquer territories.

It would turn the U.S. from a stabilizing power into an openly imperial one—and that would invite exactly the kind of conflicts, coalitions, and arms races our foreign policy is designed to avoid.

This also leads us back to the question of why we’re still murdering Venezuela boaters and why the continued defense of it. It doesn’t make sense for you to demand to have it both ways.; 11/29/25, 11:14 AM
Inga said...: “Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) issued a statement Saturday vowing to conduct “vigorous oversight” on “Caribbean strikes after a report surfaced that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the U.S. military to “kill everybody” aboard an alleged drug vessel.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5626371-senate-armed-services-oversight-trump-drug-boat-strikes/

Interesting development considering that Hegseth and certain Trumpers called this fake news.; 11/29/25, 11:18 AM
Iman said...: Gimme back my bullets
Put 'em back where they belong
Ain't foolin' ‘round put Maduro on the run
Ain't gonna see no more damage done
Gimme back… gimme back my bullets
I'll put 'em right where they belong

… Been a real shitshow since twenty seventeen
I’m back on top, and I ain’t forgettin’ my dream
Yeah, I got it back, I'm feelin' better everyday
Tell all them limp wrist lefties, stay the fuck out of my way

h/t Gary Rossington/Ronnie Van Zant; 11/29/25, 11:19 AM
narciso said...: Romprat maduro (hes at least two meters wide,) ismt a satisfyihg target; 11/29/25, 11:49 AM
Rusty said...: Beasts of England said...
’Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world.’

"Of extra heavy crude, i.e., garbage."

Not garbage. A lot of asphalt, sure, but they were able to refine it to lighter fractions and sell those profitably.; 11/29/25, 11:52 AM
Rusty said...: Whatever this is it isn't a war.
The United States has the authority to go in and do it. I'll go out on a limb and say the US has a better case for doing this than we did did for Osama Bin Laden. There wasn't a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth over all the collateral killing that getting OBL caused.; 11/29/25, 11:55 AM
narciso said...: the doctor who tipped us off to him, is still in jail by the pakistanis right, the reason we had to build up the zero units
was because of factions like the S Division of the ISI, that trained and directed Taliban and Al Queda against Afghans and coalition forces, west, and against Indian forces in Kashmir

the dog's that are barking are the lobbyists, for Cartel del Sol, that data republican noted,; 11/29/25, 12:00 PM
John henry said...: Ronald Ward gets it. Venezuela's drug trafficking is a criminal, not a military enterprise.

As chief law enforcement officer of the US, the president has an obligation to prevent criminal exercise.

He does not need a declaration of war to go after drug runners. He just needs to enforce the law.

That is normally the Coast Guard's job. They are explicitly a law enforcement agency with police powers. But if they can't handle it, the military can back them up. If it is outside US borders, Posse Comitatus does not apply.

Thank you for pointing that out, Ronald.

John Henry; 11/29/25, 12:00 PM
D.D. Driver said...: The United States has the authority to go in and do it. I'll go out on a limb and say the US has a better case for doing this than we did did for Osama Bin Laden. There wasn't a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth over all the collateral killing that getting OBL caused.

What timeline are you from?; 11/29/25, 12:00 PM
narciso said...: Foghorn wicker is on the case, lol, he wanted to go to war with Russia, over something the other day,; 11/29/25, 12:03 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: “Why hasn't he asked Congress for a war declaration, or at least an AUMF?”

Kinetic military action. Obama and HRC approved.

As ever, history didn’t begin this morning and, as ever, the Donks pretend it did.; 11/29/25, 12:03 PM
narciso said...: one does recall how they spiked the football, 'remember
Al Queda is dead, but GM was alive' spoiler neither was true

but General Flynn recognizedt the same players emerging in north Africa and more notably in the Levant, what would become the Islamic State, under the austere scholar Baghdadi, they were the Jayvee team; 11/29/25, 12:07 PM
John henry said...: I live less than 2 miles from the main runway at Jose Aponte de la Torre International Airport (www.prspaceport.com) as the former Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station is now called.

We have had a couple dozen F-35s and other planes operating out of there for the past month or so. I am right off the takeoff run and most mornings I hear a bunch of fast movers leaving on their way to parts unknown.

I didn't hear any this morning. It may be they took off and I didn't hear them, though they are pretty loud. Or it may be they didn't take off.

I have no idea what this means.

John Henry; 11/29/25, 12:08 PM
narciso said...: now I think they are small fry, expendable units in the big scheme of things, and not even economically viable, as a distribution system; 11/29/25, 12:09 PM
narciso said...: https://x.com/CynicalPublius/status/1994807665147744671; 11/29/25, 12:13 PM
narciso said...: the details there in, they really want to make fetch happen; 11/29/25, 12:17 PM
John henry said...: Several people in past comments have mentioned that the drug boats we are sinking don't have enough range to get to the US.

According to Grok, some of those boats in larger sizes have 6-700 mile range. Conceivably one could carry extra fuel and extend the range.

It is 950 miles from Venezuela to Miami direct.

Lots of islands on the way. Cuba, Haiti, Caymans, Jamaica, or, a bit out of the way to the east you can go from Venezuela to Puerto Rico up the leewards/windwards and never be out of sight of land. Except one stretch for a couple hours.

Seems like a refueling stop would be easy-peasy.

John Henry; 11/29/25, 12:18 PM
Inga said...: ‘The commander of US Southern Command, Adm. Alvin Holsey, offered to leave his post during a tense meeting last month with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after he raised questions about the legality of the strikes, CNN has reported. Holsey will leave his post in December, just one year into his tenure as the SOUTHCOM chief.“

The United Kingdom is also no longer sharing intelligence with the US about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in US military strikes and believes the attacks are illegal CNN has reported.”; 11/29/25, 12:21 PM