WSJ: The Biggest Loser in Maduro's Capture
May Be ...
Posted By: Dreadnought, 1/7/2026 1:20:33 AM
Iran? Russia? China? Senate Dems? The Maduros themselves? (Naah. Too obvious.) Iran certainly qualifies for the medal round here. The loss of their footprint in Venezuela would disrupt one of the regime's last sources of hard currency via its proxy in Hezbollah, not to mention their ability to influence and terrorize the Western Hemisphere. However, the loss of that link would not in itself become an existential issue for the regime, even though it certainly contributes to its current existential crises. The biggest loser actually exists much closer to home, according to the Wall Street Journal: The capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro—one of the Cuban intelligence services’ most valuable charges
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The U.K. and France signed a declaration Tuesday pledging troops for Ukraine under a future peace deal and with security guarantees supported by the U.S. and allied partners.
The declaration was adopted in Paris by the Coalition of the Willing and sets out what leaders said was a framework for lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia, set in international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, triggered Europe’s largest conflict since World War II.
Tuesday on MS NOW’s “The Beat,” Democratic strategist James Carville predicted Democrats will “have a massive win” in the November midterms.
Carville said, “He knows he is going to lose in November. He’s saying the Democrats are going — and of course, the Democrats are going to investigate you. Why wouldn’t they? It’s closing in on him. And what I’m fearful of, and I think everybody should be, today it’s Venezuela, I don’t know, now they’re talking about Greenland and Mexico, but who knows what they’ll do to try to save him and try to get between the Epstein scandal and Donald Trump, which is going to be hard to do.”
Iran? Russia? China? Senate Dems? The Maduros themselves? (Naah. Too obvious.)
Iran certainly qualifies for the medal round here. The loss of their footprint in Venezuela would disrupt one of the regime's last sources of hard currency via its proxy in Hezbollah, not to mention their ability to influence and terrorize the Western Hemisphere. However, the loss of that link would not in itself become an existential issue for the regime, even though it certainly contributes to its current existential crises. The biggest loser actually exists much closer to home, according to the Wall Street Journal:
The capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro—one of the Cuban intelligence services’ most valuable charges
Protests have broken out in at least 17 of Iran's 31 provinces, presenting the largest challenge to the country's clerical establishment since 2022, a BBC Verify and BBC Persian analysis has found.
The BBC's analysis of protests includes only those for which we have verified video footage - the true number is almost certainly far higher. There are reports of protests in a further 11 provinces.
The wave of protests has spread rapidly across Iran since 28 December, when anger initially broke out in the capital Tehran following a fresh and sharp devaluation of the country's currency against the dollar and other major foreign currencies.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Protesters angry over Iran’s ailing economy conducted a sit-in Tuesday at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, witnesses said, with security forces ultimately firing tear gas and dispersing demonstrators as the rest of the market shut down.
The protest at the Grand Bazaar, the beating heart for centuries of both Iran’s economic and political life, represented the latest signal that the demonstrations likely are to continue as the rial currency fell to a record low Tuesday. Already, violence surrounding the protests has killed at least 36 people with authorities detaining more than 2,000 others, activists abroad say.
CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames, who betrayed Western intelligence assets to the Soviet Union and Russia in one of the most damaging intelligence breaches in U.S. history, has died in a Maryland prison. He was 84.
A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons confirmed Ames died Monday. Ames admitted being paid $2.5 million by Moscow for U.S. secrets from 1985 until his arrest in 1994. He admitted disclosing the identities of 10 Russian officials and one East European who were spying for the United States or Great Britain. His betrayals are blamed for the executions of Western agents working behind the Iron Curtain and were a major setback to the CIA.
Rubio reassures lawmakers on Greenland
invasion fear: acquisition diplomatic,
not military 5 replies
invasion fear: acquisition diplomatic,
not military 5 replies
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has sought to calm alarms among U.S. lawmakers over recent statements from the Trump administration about Greenland, clarifying that aggressive rhetoric does not mean an imminent military action to seize the Arctic island. Rubio told congressional leaders that Washington’s goal remains negotiating a purchase of Greenland from Denmark, not undertaking an invasion, according to people familiar with the briefing.
The remarks come amid increasingly combative comments from the White House, where senior officials including President Donald Trump have publicly refused to rule out force as an option in securing control of the semi-autonomous territory. White House spokespeople have framed
President Donald Trump says the U.S. needs Greenland for national security, ostensibly to counter Russia and China. But Trump’s interest in the sparsely populated island appears to be as much about hemispheric dominance as homeland defense.
According to two people familiar with private high-level discussions and granted anonymity to share their details, the White House has shown little interest in an overture last year from Denmark’s prime minister offering the U.S. the option to increase its military presence in Greenland, where it already operates a base and has long deployed troops at liberty.
The White House said Tuesday that President Donald Trump views acquiring Greenland as a national security priority and that the use of the U.S. military remains an option as his administration weighs how to pursue control of the Arctic territory.
"President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Fox News.
"The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal."
On Monday night, I was scrolling through X when I saw talk about something happening in Caracas, Venezuela's capital city. I follow a lot of Latin American journalists, including many exiled Venezuelans who live in the United States, and they were kind of freaking out over what appeared to be some sort of military action around Miraflores Palace, the Venezuelan version of the White House.
Initially, there was talk of shots fired and explosions. Videos showed armed men in the streets carrying weapons. People were reportedly evacuated from several nearby buildings.
A Minnesota hotel operating under the Hilton Hotels brand canceled reservations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Department of Homeland Security agents earlier this month, a decision that led Hilton to cut ties with the independently owned location.
“The independent hotel owner had assured us that they had fixed this problem and published a message confirming this,” Hilton said in a statement Tuesday morning. “A recent video clearly raises concerns that they are not meeting our standards and values. As such, we are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems.”
Is Cuba About to Collapse?
5 replies
The dramatic change in Venezuela's leadership is going to have impacts around the world, but probably most significantly in Cuba, which has relied on Venezuela for fuel for decades.
For decades, Venezuela provided the communist-run island with the bulk of its fuel and financing in exchange for Cuban doctors, teachers and security personnel. Without those programs, the island’s already devastating energy woes will worsen and its shortages of food, medicine and basic goods will become even more pronounced.
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In one of his autopen’s last acts before Joe Biden left office was to pardon Capt. Mike Byrd, the DC officer who shot and killed January 6 protester Ashli Babbitt in cold blood during the protests on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021.
As TGP’s Brian Lupo noted, video evidence captured Byrd shooting an unarmed Babbitt without warning as she attempted to climb through a narrow window near a barricaded entryway to the Speaker of the House’s office area in the U.S. Capitol.
Following an investigation, Byrd was cleared of any wrongdoing, although questions remain about the escalation to lethal force without attempts to subdue or detain Babbitt.
A Minnesota hotel operating under the Hilton Hotels brand canceled reservations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Department of Homeland Security agents earlier this month, a decision that led Hilton to cut ties with the independently owned location.
“The independent hotel owner had assured us that they had fixed this problem and published a message confirming this,” Hilton said in a statement Tuesday morning. “A recent video clearly raises concerns that they are not meeting our standards and values. As such, we are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems.”
Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Mike Lee (R-UT) have balked at the billions of dollars included for refugee funding in one of the nine appropriations bills for fiscal year 2026.
The appropriations bill for the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) contains $5.69 billion in funding for refugee assistance services, which is three times higher than it was prior to President Joe Biden’s time in office.
Paul, the chair of the Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee, said, “The big spenders in Congress are back in DC, hoping to pass a bill that spends billions on refugee benefits despite widespread reports of fraud.
Dramatic video purportedly shows the moment an ICE agent opened fire and killed a 37-year-old woman who attempted to barrel her SUV into the officer’s path in Minneapolis Wednesday morning — as the mayor furiously demanded the agency “get the f–k out” of the city.
In the footage being widely circulated on social media from varying angles, ICE officers approach a plum-colored Honda Pilot and order the driver out of the vehicle after she blocked the path of their truck.
As one of the agents attempts to open the door, she quickly throws the car into reverse before trying to speed forward in the direction of another agent in her path.
The Pentagon has ordered an investigation into whether the presence of women in 'tip of the spear' combat roles is damaging the military's ability to win wars. A leaked memo obtained by NPR reveals that defense bosses are launching a grueling six–month review of thousands of female soldiers and Marines currently serving in infantry, armor and artillery units. In a private online support group leaked exclusively to the Daily Mail, one service member raged against the double standard, writing: 'You mean your guys can't focus on the mission without trying to stick it in... not my problem.'
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Monday an American takeover of Greenland would amount to the end of the NATO military alliance. Her comments came in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed call for the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island to come under U.S. control in the aftermath of the weekend military operation in Venezuela.
The dead-of-night operation by U.S. forces in Caracas to capture leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife early Saturday left the world stunned, and heightened concerns in Denmark and Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of the Danish kingdom and thus part of NATO.
An ICE agent shot and killed a woman who allegedly “weaponized her vehicle” Wednesday morning in Minneapolis.
NBC News reported that a group of people began trying to block ICE agents as they were carrying out “targeted operations” in Minneapolis. In the course of this, a woman allegedly used her vehicle to attack agents.
Homeland Security posted to X, “Today, ICE officers in Minneapolis were conducting targeted operations when rioters began blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism.”
DHS says the person shot by an ICE agent has died.
In a statement to FOX 9, ICE says officers were conducting its operation when protesters began blocking officers.
"One of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism," the statement reads. "An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots.He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers."
Lawsuit accuses Chicago-based McDonald's
of deception on grounds that McRib has
no rib meat 19 replies
of deception on grounds that McRib has
no rib meat 19 replies
A lawsuit filed late last month took Chicago-based McDonald's to task over the McRib sandwich, calling its name a form of false advertising. (snip) The lawsuit said McDonald's has "cultivated a sense of anticipation around the McRib, leveraging its scarcity to drive sales across its many locations."
As CBS News has reported before, the notorious 520-calorie sandwich contains just five simple ingredients: seasoned boneless pork dipped in BBQ sauce, sliced onions, and dill pickles in a toasted homestyle bun.
There is some good news within this announcement as Justin Trudeau’s former Deputy Prime Minister to Canada is well known to both President Donald Trump and North American political followers for a decade.Chrystia Freeland was the former lead of the Canadian trade delegation when Trudeau realized he needed to try and offset the economic damage within the renegotiated NAFTA agreement known as the USMCA. Freeland was also the lead attack agent behind the debanking effort against Canadian truckers who opposed the vaccine mandate.
In addition to holding Ukraine roots, the ideology of Chrystia Freeland as a multinational globalist and promoter for the World Economic Forum’s ‘new world order’ is well documented.
Tuesday on MS NOW’s “The Beat,” Democratic strategist James Carville predicted Democrats will “have a massive win” in the November midterms.
Carville said, “He knows he is going to lose in November. He’s saying the Democrats are going — and of course, the Democrats are going to investigate you. Why wouldn’t they? It’s closing in on him. And what I’m fearful of, and I think everybody should be, today it’s Venezuela, I don’t know, now they’re talking about Greenland and Mexico, but who knows what they’ll do to try to save him and try to get between the Epstein scandal and Donald Trump, which is going to be hard to do.”
Hakeem Jeffries endorses NY Rep. Dan Goldman
against left-wing challenger — setting
up Mamdani rift 17 replies
against left-wing challenger — setting
up Mamdani rift 17 replies
It’s a proxy war!
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) endorsed embattled Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) for re-election as the fellow New York Democrat faces a tough primary challenge from the left.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani backs fellow lefty Brad Lander, the former city comptroller challenging Goldman — showing growing division between the far-left and mainstream Dems. Goldman, a two-term congressman who officially kicked off his re-election campaign Tuesday, is vulnerable because of his support of Israel, while many primary-voting Dems have turned on the Jewish state over the war in Gaza.