New York Times: “At least 40 people were killed in the U.S. attack on Venezuela early Saturday, including military personnel and civilians, according to a senior Venezuelan official.... About half a dozen soldiers were injured in the overall operation to capture Mr. Maduro, according to two U.S. officials....”
Edward Helmore & Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: “Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, and prominent Republicans swiftly backpedaled from Donald Trump’s assertion that the US will run Venezuela in transition after US forces snatched the president, Nicolás Maduro, and brought him to the US to face federal criminal charges. Rubio appeared on numerous US politics shows on Sunday morning to defend the US operation in the early hours of Saturday to capture Maduro and his wife despite critics calling the operation illegal on multiple levels and the White House failing to demonstrate how it would run the South American nation.... Rubio said on ABC that the US had 'leverage' over the country.... He added that the US would 'set the conditions' so that Venezuela is no longer a 'narco-trafficking paradise' aligned with US adversaries.... Rubio told CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday morning that ... it was too soon to know how the Venezuelan leadership would now respond to the US’s audacious action in the country and, now, pressure to conform to US plans to stop drug trafficking and control its oil operations. 'We are going to make our assessment on the basis of what they do, not what they say publicly....'”
Trump Threatens New Venezuelan Leader. Michael Scherer of the Atlantic: “In a telephone interview this morning..., Donald Trump issued a not-so-veiled threat against the new Venezuelan leader, Delcy Rodríguez, saying that 'if she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro.'... Trump made clear that he would not stand for what he described as Rodríguez’s defiant rejection of the armed U.S. intervention that resulted in Maduro’s capture. During our call, Trump ... reaffirmed to me that Venezuela may not be the last country subject to American intervention. 'We do need Greenland, absolutely,' he said, describing the island — a part of Denmark, a NATO ally — as 'surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.' And in discussing Venezuela’s future, he ... [said,] 'You know, rebuilding there and regime change, anything you want to call it, is better than what you have right now. Can’t get any worse,' he said.” Thank you to akaWendy for the link. ~~~
Julian Borger of the Guardian: “In terms of global stability, the worst thing about the Maduro rendition is that it worked. Trump’s belief in his own global omnipotence, and his desire to grab the territory and natural resources of other countries has been held in check until now by his fear of entanglement in foreign wars.... He was clearly thrilled by the drama of the Maduro operation.... The attack on Venezuela suggests the allure of foreign lands, oil and minerals is now glimmering brighter than the Nobel prize.... Trump ... looks at the world through the eyes of a 19th-century imperialist, but with 21st-century weapons.... [The Venezuelan project] accelerates the slide from a mostly rules-based world to one of competing spheres of influence, to be determined by armed might and the readiness to use it. One US commentator, David Rothkopf, called it the 'Putinization of US foreign policy'.”
From the Right. Timothy Carney of the Washington Examiner: "Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both justified the United States’s overnight invasion of Venezuela and capture of its president, Nicolas Maduro, as a law-enforcement action, rather than an act of war. Thus, they argued, Trump didn’t need congressional authorization. But Trump’s own words — his description of the attack, his justification for the attack, and his plans for Venezuela’s future — make it clear this was in fact an act of war. Presidents are not allowed to wage war without authorization from Congress.... Trump called it a 'military operation,' as Eric Boehm at Reason pointed out.... Trump also stated that the U.S. would 'run' Venezuela until we could install a new government. This is the description of a regime change, not an arrest. If we were really arresting Maduro on drug charges, we would let Venezuela deal with succession matters. Trump made it clear we’re not doing that.”
Jennifer Bahney of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump took time out of his very busy day deposing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro to 're-Truth' a social media post outrageously questioning whether Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) ordered the assassination of Minnesota State Rep. Melissa Hortman (D). The original post by @LightOnLiberty asked, 'Was Minnesota State Rep Melissa Hortman murdered because she voted against and was exposing a multi-billion dollar money laundering fraud going to illegal immigrants in Minnesota?!' The post continued, 'The fraud that she voted against that heavily implicated illegal aliens, specifically Somalians, who have been racketing this kind of child care, health care rackets and cooperating with our corrupt government?'”
~~~~~~~~~~
Today's New York Times' live updates of the crisis in Venezuela are here. ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates Saturday of the crisis in Venezuela are here: “Late Saturday, Mr. Maduro arrived in Brooklyn and will be held at the Metropolitan Detention Center, according to a law enforcement official....” ~~~
~~~ Here are CNN's live updates.
⭐Regina Cano, et al., of the AP: “Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro arrived in the United States to face criminal charges after being captured in an audacious nighttime military operation that ... Donald Trump said would set the U.S. up to “run” the South American country and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other nations. Maduro landed late Saturday afternoon at a small airport in New York following the middle-of-the-night operation that extracted him and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their home in a military base in the capital, Caracas — an act that Maduro’s government called 'imperialist.'”
⭐Regina Cano, et al., of the AP: “The United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and flew him out of the country in an extraordinary military operation early Saturday that plucked a sitting leader from office.... Donald Trump insisted the U.S. government would run the country at least temporarily and would tap Venezuelan’s vast oil reserves to sell 'large amounts' to other countries.... He claimed the American presence was already in place, though there were no immediate signs the U.S. was running the country. Venezuelan state TV continued to air pro-Maduro propaganda, broadcasting live images of supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest....
“Behind the scenes, U.S. officials tracked Maduro’s behavioral habits, including what he ate and where he slept, in preparing to execute an operation that resulted in one of the more stunning regime changes in modern history. Maduro and his wife, seized overnight from their home on a military base, were aboard a U.S. warship on their way to New York, where they were to face criminal charges in connection with a Justice Department indictment accusing them of a role in narco-terrorism conspiracy.” (Also linked yesterday.) Here's an NPR report. ~~~
Julian Barnes, et al., of the New York Times: “In August, a clandestine team of C.I.A. officers slipped into Venezuela with a plan to collect information on Nicolás Maduro.... The intelligence [the C.I.A. team] gathered about the Venezuelan leader’s daily movements — combined with a human source close to Mr. Maduro and a fleet of stealth drones flying secretly above — enabled the agency to map out minute details about his routines.... Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference that because of the intelligence gathered by the team, the United States knew where Mr. Maduro moved, what he ate and even what pets he kept. That information was critical to the ensuing military operation, a pre-dawn raid Saturday by elite Army Delta Force commandos, the riskiest U.S. military operation of its kind since members of the Navy’s SEAL Team 6 killed Osama bin Laden ... in 2011. The result was a tactically precise and swiftly executed operation that extracted Mr. Maduro from his country with no loss of American life, a result heralded by ... [Donald] Trump amid larger questions about the legality and rationale for the U.S. actions in Venezuela.” Read on. This is a gift link. The Washington Post story is here.
Here's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Dan Caine, discussing the operation during the press conference Trump headed up yesterday: ~~~
~~~ Lazaro Gamio, et al., of the New York Times have more on how “the United States captured ... Nicolás Maduro, and took him to New York to face criminal charges.” So many maps & videos you can almost be as childish as Donald Trump, who told Fox hosts Saturday, “I watched it literally like I was watching a television show.”
Ella Lee & Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: “Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, face cocaine importation conspiracy charges and other counts in an indictment newly unsealed Saturday after their capture. The four-count superseding indictment, which also charges other Venezuelan government officials and allies, alleges Maduro leveraged government power to protect and promote vast criminal conduct — from drug trafficking to terrorism — for the benefit of himself and his allies.... Here’s what we know about the case.”
Charlie Savage of the New York Times: “The United States’ seizure of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and ... [Donald] Trump’s declaration that the United States will 'run the country' for now raise a host of extraordinary legal issues at the intersection of international law and presidential power. The Trump administration has not yet publicly detailed its legal reasoning. But earlier operations and comments by Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and [Mr,] Trump’s national security adviser, offer potential insights.... 'This sounds like an illegal occupation under international law, and there is no authority for the president to do it under domestic law,' ... said [Rebecca Ingber of the Cardozo School of Law], adding: 'It’s unclear what he has in mind, but presumably he’d need some funding from Congress to do it.'... Maduro's extraction ... appears to violate the United Nations Charter, a treaty the United States has ratified....
“It is a longstanding principle of international law that heads of state have immunity in foreign courts. The Supreme Court has recognized that constraint dating back to an 1812 opinion that says 'the person of the sovereign' is exempt from arrest or detention within a foreign territory.... Notably, Mr. Rubio has repeatedly declared that Mr. Maduro is not the legitimate president of Venezuela.... Venezuela’s National Electoral Council formally declared Mr. Maduro the winner of elections in 2018 and 2024. But the results were widely seen as marred by fraud, and since 2019, the United States under both Mr. Trump in his first term and President Joseph R. Biden Jr. have not recognized Mr. Maduro as the legitimate president.” ~~~
David Sanger & Tyler Pager of the New York Times: Donald “Trump’s declaration on Saturday that the United States planned to 'run' Venezuela for an unspecified period, issuing orders to its government and exploiting its vast oil reserves, plunged the United States into a risky new era in which it will seek economic and political dominance over a nation of roughly 30 million people.... Mr. Trump told reporters that Delcy Rodríguez, who served as Mr. Maduro’s vice president, would hold power in Venezuela as long as she 'does what we want.' Ms. Rodríguez, however, showed little public interest in doing the Americans’ bidding. In a national address, she accused Washington of invading her country under false pretenses and asserted that Mr. Maduro was still Venezuela’s head of state. 'What is being done to Venezuela is a barbarity,' she said.... Mr. Trump suggested on Saturday that while there were no American troops on the ground now, there would be a 'second wave' of military action if the United States ran into resistance, either on the ground or from Venezuelan government officials....
“Asked who, exactly, would be running Venezuela, he said 'people that are standing right behind me, we’re going to be running it,' pointing to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine. Mr. Trump paired that with a declaration that a key American goal was to regain access to oil rights that he has repeatedly said had been 'stolen” from the United States. With those statements, the president opened a new chapter in American nation building.” ~~~
~~~ Marie:
The idea that Trump could run Venezuela is ludicrous. He has no idea
how to run this country. At all. Moreover, whatever bad acts Maduro
committed as president of Venezuela, Trump himself either did or tried
to do here in some form or another. On the other hand, maybe it would be nice if Li'l Marco finally got to be tin-pot dictator president of some country. ~~~
~~~ John Hudson & Adam Taylor of the Washington Post: “Marco Rubio has held many titles during Donald Trump’s presidency. He may have just acquired his most challenging one yet: Viceroy of Venezuela. The secretary of state, national security adviser, acting archivist and administrator of the now-defunct U.S. Agency for International Development was central to masterminding the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday.... But with no immediate successor to govern the country of roughly 29 million, Trump is leaning on Rubio to help 'run' Venezuela, divvy up its oil assets and usher in a new government, a fraught and daunting task for someone with so many other responsibilities.... U.S. officials say Rubio will play an outsize role in guiding U.S. policy as the Trump administration attempts to stabilize Venezuela.”
 |
Not sure why Maduro is blindfolded. |
~~~ Marie: As some expert pointed out on the teevee yesterday, humiliating prisoners of war is a war crime. So add that to the list of war crimes Trump has committed.
~~~ Marie: If we're going to try a South American president for drug trafficking, how come Trump just pardoned a Central American president who was convicted of trafficking billions of dollars worth of drugs? Trump himself is probably aiding & abetting drug-runners via one of his crypto-scam businesses. As Rachel Maddow said early Saturday, none of the purported rationales for kidnapping Maduro makes sense. (Thanks to RAS for the link.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: I wonder if the "real" purpose of this extraordinary action is to bury the release of the Epstein files or to cloak Jack Smith's testimony or to obscure the lousy economy or to hide the effects of the Big Ugly Bill or or or. Meanwhile, I can't help but think Trump is about to become an oil baron.
“An Incorrect Statement.” Stanley Reed of the New York Times reports on the status of Venezuela's oil industry: “Venezuela’s oil industry would 'make a lot of money' with the United States behind it..., [Donald] Trump said Saturday.... 'We’re going to have our very large United States oil companies, the biggest anywhere in the world, go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure, the oil infrastructure, and start making money for the country,' Mr. Trump said.... [Venezuela's] national oil company, known as PDVSA, lacks the capital and expertise to increase production.... Chevron is the main Western oil company still operating in the country and produces about a quarter of Venezuela’s oil.... 'With more than a century in Venezuela, we support a peaceful, lawful transition that promotes stability and economic recovery,' said Kevin Slagle, a Chevron spokesman. 'We’re prepared to work constructively with the U.S. government during this period, leveraging our experience and presence to strengthen U.S. energy security.' Later on Saturday, Chevron said it had given an incorrect statement and issued a new one that removed mention of the U.S. government, saying: 'We continue to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations.'” An NBC News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Ben Lefebvre, et al., of Politico: “American oil companies have long hoped to recover the assets that Venezuela’s authoritarian regime ripped from them decades ago. Now the Trump administration is offering to help them achieve that aim — with one major condition. Administration officials have told oil executives in recent weeks that if they want compensation for their rigs, pipelines and other seized property, then they must be prepared to go back into Venezuela now and invest heavily in reviving its shattered petroleum industry.... But people in the industry said the administration’s message has left them still leery about the difficulty of rebuilding decayed oil fields in a country where it’s not even clear who will lead the country for the foreseeable future.”
Eli Stokols & Daniella Cheslow of Politico: “As ... Donald Trump announced Saturday that the U.S. would 'run' Venezuela for now, he and top aides made clear that the U.S. may not stop there — and demanded that the rest of the world take note.... Menacing comments [by Pete Hegseth & Marco Rubio] were interwoven with specific threats toward three other countries that could soon be in the administration’s sights: Colombia, Cuba and Mexico.... 'American dominance in the Western hemisphere will never be questioned again,' Trump said.”
Rachel Scott, et al., of ABC News: "Top congressional leaders -- comprising the 'Gang of 8' -- did not receive a briefing from the administration before the U.S. strike in Venezuela began, multiple sources told ABC News Saturday morning.... Weeks ago..., Donald Trump indicated he wouldn’t brief lawmakers in advance of any land operations in Venezuela because he was worried they would 'leak.' Early congressional reaction largely split along party lines. Secretary of State Marco Rubio worked the phones Saturday morning to shore up support among Republicans on Capitol Hill." MB: As Jim Fallows points out (linked below), "the most grievous leaks in the Trump era have come either from Trump himself or from Pete Hegseth." And as Tani & Talcott note (also linked below), even the major newspapers held back their reporting until after Trump broke the news on social media.
Annie Karni of the New York Times: “Republicans in Congress on Saturday cheered the Trump administration’s dramatic military action to capture President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, but top Democrats sounded alarms about the legality of the operation and said they would seek a quick vote to halt hostilities without express authorization.... Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, said he would push for a vote next week on a war powers resolution to limit Mr. Trump’s ability to take further military action without explicit authorization by Congress. Senator Andy Kim, Democrat of New Jersey, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had 'blatantly' lied to Congress in recent briefings when they said the administration’s objective in Venezuela was not regime change. Mr. Kim, a former national security official in the Obama administration, called the move to oust Mr. Maduro 'disastrous,' arguing that it would further isolate the United States on the global stage.” Here's an Axios report.
Nicholas Fandos & Maia Coleman of the New York Times: “Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor of New York City, called ... [Donald] Trump on Saturday to personally object to strikes the United States had conducted in Venezuela and to the capture of its leader, Nicolás Maduro. 'I called the president and spoke with him directly to register my opposition to this act,' Mr. Mamdani said at an unrelated news conference on Saturday, adding that he told Mr. Trump that he was 'opposed to a pursuit of regime change, to the violation of federal and international law.' The mayor declined to characterize the president’s response when pressed by reporters. His aides said that Mr. Mamdani had initiated the call earlier on Saturday afternoon and that it was 'brief.' 'I registered my opposition, I made it clear and we left it at that,' Mr. Mamdani said.”
Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: “Despite the long American military buildup around Venezuela, the American raid on Caracas to capture President Nicolás Maduro and his wife produced initial reactions of shock, outrage and skepticism from international leaders, many of them troubled by an exercise of American gunboat diplomacy. The reactions were particularly angry from Latin America and from leaders who are more on the left and who have struggled with ... [Donald] Trump and his trade, tariff and other policies in the region.... President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil was particularly scathing. He condemned the U.S. action and said it “recalls the worst moments of interference in the politics” of the region.... The reaction of Russia, another ally of Mr. Maduro, was strongly worded and apparently without irony. Russia, having invaded Ukraine four years ago and continuing to fight there, condemned the U.S. military action as 'an act of armed aggression against Venezuela.'” (Also linked yesterday.)
Tom Nichols of the Atlantic: “Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are just shocked—shocked!—by the American attack on Venezuela.... The United States has now given Russia, China, and anyone else who wants to give it a try a road map for invading countries and capturing leaders who displease them, with a lawlessness that by comparison makes the 2003 invasion of Iraq seem as lawyered up as a bank merger.... The president declared the 'Donroe Doctrine,' another moment that will stand for ages as an embarrassment to the United States and raises the question yet again of whether the commander in chief is cognitively stable enough to be ordering the invasion of other nations.” Thank you to akaWendy for this gift link.
New York Times Editors: “Over the past few months..., [Donald] Trump has deployed an imposing military force in the Caribbean to threaten Venezuela. Until now, the president used that force ... for illegal attacks on small boats.... On Saturday, Mr. Trump dramatically escalated his campaign by capturing President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.... If there is an overriding lesson of American foreign affairs in the past century..., it is that attempting to oust even the most deplorable regime can make matters worse.... Mr. Trump has not yet offered a coherent explanation for his actions in Venezuela. He is pushing our country toward an international crisis without valid reasons.... Without congressional approval, his actions violate U.S. law.... Venezuela has apparently become the first country subject to [Trump's] latter-day imperialism, and it represents a dangerous and illegal approach to America’s place in the world.... A second argument against Mr. Trump’s attacks on Venezuela is that they violate international law.” ~~~
~~~ By contrast, Bezos Washington Post Editors are giddy with the thrill & righteousness of it all: “This is a major victory for American interests.... Millions of people around the world, most of all in Venezuela, are celebrating the downfall of the dictator Nicolás Maduro.... Donald Trump’s decision to capture him on Saturday was one of the boldest moves a president has made in years, and the operation was an unquestionable tactical success.... Maduro’s removal sends an important message to tin-pot dictators in Latin America and the world: Trump follows through. President Joe Biden offered sanctions relief to Venezuela, and Maduro responded to that show of weakness by stealing an election.... It’s ... fair to celebrate.” The Hill summarizes the Bezos Post's editorial here.
~~~ Spencer Ackerman: "Rarely in the era of mass media has U.S. imperialism been as unsubtle or as blatant.... I was surprised to hear Trump speak of [Nobel Peace Prize winner & U.S.-aligned Maria Corina] Machado dismissively, saying he hadn't spoken to her — enjoy that consent-manufacturing Nobel as a consolation prize, ma'am — but not to hear him tell Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, that she 'doesn't really have a choice' in doing the bidding of what appears to be a Rubio-led and oil company-manned American authority.... We are in a period of shock before the Venezuelan military decides on a response. That is a vacuum that will be filled by American triumphalism. I listened to CNN talking heads praise the spectacular tactical success of the kidnapping, as if the U.S.' military capability was the relevant issue. They spoke of a restoration of democracy, by which they meant capitalism, if they knew what they meant at all."
Here is what a couple of old-fashioned conservatives say about Don & Marco's not-so-excellent adventure in Venezuela. They make a lot of sense, and their fairly nuanced views are helpful in understanding how Trump is diminishing the U.S. ~~~
~~~ What Frum & Applebaum have to say is not inconsistent with Heather Cox Richardson's analysis (which is here), but her explanation is, well, a bit simpler. And while Richardson speaks in more apocalyptic terms than do Frum & Applebaum, they better convey, IMO, how alarming the Trump shrink-wrap policy is. (Richardson's video also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: BTW, as you read the various MSM stories about Donald Trump's Saturday press conference, you won't get the full effect unless you keep in mind this from another post by Heather Cox Richardson: “Slurring his words and repeating himself as he read from a script and occasionally wandered off it, Trump called the operation 'an assault like people have not seen since World War II....'” And this, which again is consistent with Frum & Applebaum's conclusions: ~~~
“After World War II, the United States and its allies and partners put in place a rules-based international order ... [in which] members of the United Nations agreed they would not threaten or attack another country. Russian president Vladimir Putin has sought to replace that rules-based order with the idea that powerful countries will create spheres of influence in their regions. That new world order would justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now the U.S. invasion of Venezuela with the promise that the U.S. is going to 'run' the country from now on, as part of its quest to dominate the Western Hemisphere, means the U.S. has abandoned the post–World War II international order and is siding with Russia’s vision.” ~~~
~~~ James Fallows on Substack: “Trump himself looked and sounded very bad. He slurred and slumped more than usual. His eyes fluttered many times toward seeming shut. He had trouble working his way through big words in the written script. His off-script riffs were from a very small span of his standard repertoire.... Trump made the case for his own impeachment. [Marco] Rubio, Pete Hegseth, and others tried to dance around what had happened by saying that the Maduro capture and relocation from Venezuela was a routine law-enforcement exercise.... Perhaps without realizing he was doing so, [Trump] flatly and 100% contradicted what others at the microphone were claiming.... Trump said, he was 'not afraid of boots on the ground.'... This is an overthrow of a foreign government. It’s an act of war. It is an open-ended declaration of foreign occupation. And as all at the microphone either proudly declared and reluctantly admitted, it was pulled off without consultation with anyone outside their little circle....” Read on. I think there's even more to the article than appears on the page, but one has to subscribe.
Melissa Goldin of the AP: “In praising the military, Trump highlighted National Guard deployments into U.S. cities, making erroneous claims about crime in Washington, D.C., Chicago and Los Angeles. Here’s a closer look at the facts.”
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Max Tani & Shelby Talcott of Semafor: "The New York Times and Washington Post learned of a secret US raid on Venezuela soon before it was scheduled to begin Friday night — but held off publishing what they knew to avoid endangering US troops, two people familiar with the communications between the administration and the news organizations said. The decisions in the New York and Washington newsrooms to maintain official secrecy is in keeping with longstanding American journalistic traditions — even at a moment of unprecedented mutual hostility between the American president and a legacy media that continues to dominate national security reporting." ~~~
~~~ Tyler Pager of the New York Times: “I woke up shortly after 1 a.m. on Saturday morning after our colleague Anatoly Kurmanaev, who is in Venezuela, messaged a group of reporters and editors that Caracas had been bombed. I immediately started texting sources to try and figure out what was going on. Because the operation was still underway, officials at the White House and in the government were hesitant to engage.... We got official confirmation at 4:21 a.m. when the president posted on Truth Social that the United States had captured Maduro and his wife and flown them out of Venezuela.... I just called him directly and he picked up.... I called him only after consulting with Dick Stevenson, the Washington bureau chief.... Throughout the early morning hours, I was in constant communication with Dick Stevenson — as well as Eric Schmitt ... and Julian Barnes.... We were all trying to figure out exactly what happened after Anatoly first alerted us to the explosions. So just before I called the president, I checked in with the three of them and put together a list of questions. I got in four questions — in 50 seconds — before the president hung up.”
News You Can Use. Anna Liss-Roy of the Washington Post: “A recent change to how the U.S. Postal Service says it postmarks letters could discount the ballots of thousands of last-minute voters. Many Americans have long assumed that tax returns, ballots and other mailed documents sent on deadline would be marked as sent the day they are dropped in a mailbox. But the Postal Service announced Dec. 24 that it was making no such guarantees about postmarks. Its new guidelines say a postmark might come days later, when mail is actually processed at a regional facility, sometimes miles from a local mailbox.... Fourteen states provide a grace period allowing mail ballots to be counted if they arrive after Election Day if they are postmarked by then, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.... A Postal Service spokesperson, Martha Johnson, said the new guidance does not actually signal a change to the current practice. It is merely putting that practice into the service’s written protocols. Voters can still get a postmark on the day they mail a ballot if they request one at a local post office.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Wisconsin. Julie Boseman of the New York Times: “Hannah C. Dugan, the Wisconsin state judge who was convicted last month of obstructing federal agents attempting to arrest an undocumented immigrant, has resigned her position in a letter sent to Gov. Tony Evers on Saturday. Her resignation is expected to take effect immediately. Judge Dugan ... faced impeachment in the Wisconsin Legislature, which is controlled by Republicans.... As a person convicted of a felony, she is likely ineligible to continue holding office as a judge in Wisconsin, according to the state Constitution.”
11 comments:
The U. S. Agency for International Development is not defunct. Its brief has just been transferred to the militarized hands of the Pretender's capitalist cronies, who will develop whatever they can get their hands on, as Mae West said foreign or domestic, for themselves.
Carole Cadwalladr
"The Threat from America
America is not our enemy, but it's a danger to itself and the world"
"even at a moment of unprecedented mutual hostility between the American president and a legacy media that continues to dominate national security reporting."
This hostility is not mutual, it only goes one way. Periodically a report will come out that is uncharacteristically blunt and honest, but that is never sustained and rarely followed up on. The MSM has sane-washed Trump and even sometimes celebrated his crimes, like the Washington Post's editorial yesterday. Today's coverage is even more explicitly favorable for Trump now that so much of our media has been captured by the right-wing and corrupt actors who wish to cozy up to Trump. We have seen how many reporters are held back, like Krugman, who unfettered by the management they are finally able to truly express the unprecedentedness of the current regime and the horror of the scope of criminality and incompetence. It may stray from time to time, but the legacy media will usually come back to cleaning up his messes so the general populace won't know just how terrible things have gotten, that is not hostility.
You Are Here ⬇️ - Literary version
Greenland through the eyes of Katie Miller.
This is sent out by the wife of the most powerful advisor to the president.
Raw Story
Reactions from Democrats
Michael Scherer, in The Atlantic, on his morning conversation with T**** - The interim Venezuelan president will meet a fate worse than Maduro’s unless she complies with U.S. wishes.
"During our call, Trump, who had just arrived at his golf club in West Palm Beach, was in evident good spirits, and reaffirmed to me that Venezuela may not be the last country subject to American intervention. “We do need Greenland, absolutely,” he said, describing the island—a part of Denmark, a NATO ally—as “surrounded by Russian and Chinese ships.” And in discussing Venezuela’s future, he signaled a clear shift away from his previous distaste for regime change and nation building, rejecting the concerns of many in his MAGA base. “You know, rebuilding there and regime change, anything you want to call it, is better than what you have right now. Can’t get any worse,” he said."
Well, I was gobsmacked when I read the news of Venezuela Saturday morning. I used to visit the country regularly for many years until 2007, just about the time Chavez came into power. Wonderful people and nature. I still have contact with a few people. Yesterday I wrote to an 80-year old friend to see if she was okay. This is her response, "Ese fue el primer paso para la independencia pero todavía falta poder organizar el cambio de gobierno y como el país tiene más de 25 años con éste desorden tiene que ir despacio. Pero poco a poco vamos a encontrar el éxito" (Google translate: That was the first step towards independence, but we still need to organize the change of government, and since the country has been in this state of disarray for more than 25 years, things have to proceed slowly. But little by little, we will achieve success.)
Another friend wrote shortly before Christmas, " If the US invades it would be the best present for Venezuela...".
My understanding is Venezuelans are desperate, and believe only the US can save them. They seem to think the US has their best interests. What a mess.
Don't know how disappointed those MAGA American First folks will react to their new what's wrong with a little regime change leader, but I'd guess they'll just go along with it. They'll come up with a new and more comfortable rationalization they can live with, like all those the world will end on Saturday at midnight folks simply readjust their calendar when it doesn't. The truly gullible are never disappointed
But why anyone would think a narcissist's massive ego could be constrained by national borders is far beyond me.
Julie,
Unfortunately for your friends in Venezuela, Fat Hitler has only his own best interests in mind. He couldn't possibly care less about citizens of Venezuela. Aren't they icky foreigners who don't speak English? Himmler MIller would have them all on a slave ship to some gulag if they came here.
What a joke that the Fat Fascist's apologists paint this invasion as a "rule of law" thing. Rule of law is anathema to Fat Hitler and his venal, grifting, murderous horde.
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