Welcome to the first Sunday of 2026, and Sabbath for goyische cats. It’s January 4, 2025, and National Trivia Day. Here’s a trivia question: what is the name of my sister’s teddy bear? (Photo below.) Winners get a warm congratulations.
It’s also Dimpled Chad Day (remember those?), National Spaghetti Day, and World Braille Day. Wikipedia says this about Braille:
It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone devices.
Here’s how it works on a computer:
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the January 4 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
*Another big headline from the NYT (click to read, article archived here):
The “we got him and his oil, too” bit:
President Trump said on Saturday that the United States had captured the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, and was taking him to New York to face criminal charges, the stunning culmination of a monthslong campaign by his administration to oust the authoritarian leader. The United States would “run” the country until a proper transition of power could be arranged, the president said hours later, raising the prospect of an open-ended commitment.
Mr. Trump offered few details about how the United States would oversee Venezuela, saying only that an unspecified “group” would do so. It was not clear whether that would involve an occupying military force, although Mr. Trump said he was not afraid of “boots on the ground.”
Venezuela’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, had spoken to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and told him she was “essentially willing to do what we think is necessary,” Mr. Trump told reporters during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida. But Ms. Rodríguez earlier denounced the U.S. operation on state television, calling it a “brutal attack.”
While Mr. Trump said little about how the United States would be “running” Venezuela, he insisted it “won’t cost us anything” because American oil companies would rebuild the energy infrastructure in Venezuela, which holds vast reserves of oil.
Hours after Mr. Trump announced the military assault that captured Mr. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social media that they had been indicted on drug and weapons charges and “will soon face the full wrath of American justice.” The charges were similar to those contained in a 2020 indictment that the Trump administration has repeatedly cited in calling Mr. Maduro the head of a “narco-terrorist” state.
American special operations forces captured Mr. Maduro with the help of a C.I.A. source within the Venezuelan government who had monitored his location in recent days, according to people briefed on the operation. Mr. Trump posted an image of Mr. Maduro in custody aboard the U.S.S. Iwo Jima, one of the American warships that have been prowling the Caribbean, and said he and his wife would be taken to New York.
And the method, which includes that big reward:
A C.I.A. source within the Venezuelan government monitored the location of Nicolás Maduro in both the days and moments before his capture by American special operation forces, according to people briefed on the operation.
The American spy agency, the people said, produced the intelligence that led to the capture of Mr. Maduro, monitoring his position and movements with a fleet of stealth drones that provided near constant monitoring over Venezuela, in addition to the information provided by its Venezuelan sources.
The C.I.A. had a group of officers on the ground in Venezuela working clandestinely beginning in August, according to a person familiar with the agency’s work. The officers gathered information about Mr. Maduro’s “pattern of life” and movements.
It is not clear how the C.I.A. recruited the Venezuelan source who informed the Americans of Mr. Maduro’s location. But former officials said the agency was clearly aided by the $50 million reward the U.S. government offered for information leading to Mr. Maduro’s capture.
Well, Maduro is going to die in jail (the chance he’ll be found innocent is about zero, and he’s 63. How the U.S. is going to “run” Venezuela intrigues me greatly, and we should perhaps just hold elections and leave the rest to the Venezuelans. Maybe they’ll put Maria Corina Machado in charge (she was previously banned from running for office). She’s got to be a happy woman today!
*More details from another NYT report. Like the attack on the Bin Laden compound, the President watched the capture in real time:
President Trump said that he and key members of his administration watched in real time from Mar-a-Lago, his Florida club, the Delta Force raid that captured Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president.
In a lengthy telephone interview Saturday morning on “Fox & Friends,” Mr. Trump offered some details of the monthslong planning that went into the operation, including the construction of a replica of Mr. Maduro’s safe house, where special operations forces could practice the raid.
Mr. Trump said that the military repeatedly rehearsed the operation and was able to execute flawlessly, breaking through steel doors protecting Mr. Maduro in “a matter of seconds.”
“I watched it literally like I was watching a television show,” the president said, adding, that “it was an amazing thing.”
The capture operation was the product of months of meetings between Mr. Trump; Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also serves as the national security adviser; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth; John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director; and Stephen Miller, one of Mr. Trump’s top aides. The men sometimes gathered as a group but also met or spoke with Mr. Trump one-on-one.
While Mr. Trump did not identify the military team that conducted the raid, other U.S. officials said it was the Army’s Delta Force. “They are the most highly trained soldiers in the world,” the president said.
The Washington Post adds that they got not just Maduro, but his wife as well, who apparently is also facing charges. I wonder what they have on her:
The operation involved more than 150 aircraft, including strike and intelligence assets, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said after Trump’s remarks. “On arrival into the target area, the helicopters came under fire and they replied with that fire with overwhelming force,” Caine added. “One of our aircraft was hit but remained flyable.”
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, “gave up and were taken into custody” by U.S. forces, Caine said. The couple was removed from the country by helicopter, taken aboard the USS Iwo Jima and will be brought to New York, where both are facing federal charges.
Here is a video of Trump’s announcement, which I’ve started when he enters the room:
And here’s an image Trump published on Truth Social (via the Hindustan Times) of the captured Maduro You can only imagine what’s going through the mind of this blindfolded and handcuffed dictator, who’s now being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
*Reader Jez reports, via the BBC itself, that the Beeb filmed inside an attacked Israeli home without permission, and soon after the October 7 attacks.
The BBC has reached an agreement with an Israeli family who survived the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks, after a team of journalists entered their badly-damaged home without permission.
A BBC News crew, including International Editor Jeremy Bowen, entered the home of an Israeli family on the Gaza border and filmed inside the property in the days after the deadly attacks.
They filmed personal photographs of the family’s children at a time when many of their friends and relatives still didn’t know whether they had survived, the Jewish News reported.
A BBC spokesperson said that while they did not generally comment on specific legal issues they were pleased to have reached an agreement in the case.
Tzeela Horenstein said gunmen threw a grenade at her husband Simon during Hamas’ attack on the village of Netiv HaAsara early in the morning of 7 October.
The couple and their two young children only survived because their home’s door twisted and jammed when the attackers tried to blow it out with explosives, she told the Jewish News, who first reported the story.
She said: “Not only did terrorists break into our home and try to murder us, but then the BBC crew entered again, this time with a camera as a weapon, without permission or consent.
“It was another intrusion into our lives. We felt that everything that was still under our control had been taken from us.”
The Jewish News reported that the corporation paid a financial settlement of £28,000 to the family.
A measly £28,000???? They should have taken the Beeb to court; that’s not nearly enough money to deter this hamhanded organization from its bad behavior. Jez says this is ” absolutely disgraceful,” and it certainly is.
*NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani revoked all of his predecessor Eric Adams’s executive orders stemming from the time that Adams was indicted for corruption. Those orders included two protections for Jews, but rather than keep them, or reinstate them, Mamdani revoked them tout court, and several Jewish organizations have objected.
Leading Jewish groups, including the two main community organizations in New York, on Friday blasted some of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first steps in the job, marking a rocky start to the relationship between Mamdani and the Jewish community since he took office a day earlier.
The statement was signed by the UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, the Anti-Defamation League’s office covering New York and New Jersey, the American Jewish Committee’s New York office, the New York Board of Rabbis, Agudath Israel of America and the Orthodox Union.
The statement marked an unusually broad front from a swath of prominent Jewish organizations.
“Mayor Mamdani pledged to build an inclusive New York and combat all forms of hate, including antisemitism,” the Jewish groups said in a statement. “But when the new administration hit reset on many of Mayor Adams’ executive orders, it reversed two significant protections against antisemitism: the city’s adoption of IHRA and critical protections against the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against the State of Israel.”
The bit in bold below especially disturbs me. At least Mamdani doesn’t have any power to wipe out Israel, but believe me, he would if he could. First the IHRA definition of antisemitism that Mamdani deep-sixed:
“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
The IHRA adds that “Manifestations [of antisemitism] might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.” In other words, anti-Zionism is a part of antisemitism. That, as you see below, makes Mamdani an antisemite.
Back to the article on Mmdani from the Times of Israel:
. . . . Upon taking office, a New York City mayor must decide to continue or revoke their predecessor’s executive orders.
Adams was a staunch supporter of Israel with deep ties to Jewish communities, while Mamdani is a far-left anti-Zionist who has alarmed many Jews, who fear that his anti-Israel rhetoric and policies will foment hostility against the Jewish community.
The IHRA definition has been adopted by a broad range of national and local governments worldwide as well as other institutions. It has also drawn opposition from those who say its inclusion of some forms of criticism of Israel chills legitimate political speech.
The IHRA definition could have posed a problem for Mamdani because the definition says that denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination is discriminatory. Mamdani has repeatedly refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.
Well, Hizzoner the Mayor isn’t an antisemite by New York’s new definition, since he revoked the old one that did make his views antisemitic. What bothers me is that these views reflect the tenor of the “progressive” left, which is so “progressive” that it holds Hamas as morally higher than Israel. As far as I’m concerned, anti-Zionism is antisemitism (for an explanation, see here).
*A kind reader gave me a year’s subscription to The Dispatch, characterized as a center-right but anti-Trump publication that strives for objective news, so I’ll be reprising some pieces from there. The first one is implicitly anti-Administration, as it reports on the return of measles in the U.S., something that you can plausibly attribute to RFK Jr. and his antivax stance.
The holidays are approaching and case counts are surging, but quarantine orders are in full effect, and public health officials warn the spread of disease is ongoing. That’s how many Americans experienced December 2020 during the COVID pandemic, and it’s also how hundreds of people under quarantine—including more than 100 elementary school students—in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, have spent recent weeks as a measles outbreak has continued to grow.
The county is the latest measles hotspot in a year that saw a large outbreak in West Texas—762 cases that included the deaths of two children—and ongoing outbreaks in southern Utah and northern Arizona. The United States has already had its worst year of measles cases in more than three decades. There have been 1,958 confirmed cases as of December 16. The last time case counts reached 2,000 was in 1992. Annual infections have exceeded 1,000 only once in the 33 years between 1992 and 2025—when infections reached 1,274 in 2019.
Measles researchers and epidemiologists predict the virus will continue to spread in transmission chains possibly linked to the West Texas outbreak that began in January. If that occurs, the country could lose measles elimination status—an achievement secured 25 years ago marking the end of uninterrupted measles spread. The status is mainly a technical designation, but its loss would reflect backsliding in the public health fight against one of the most infectious diseases on earth and comes at a time when Trump administration officials are casting doubt on the safety of vaccines and pursuing an overhaul of the childhood immunization schedule.
. . . .Dr. William Moss, an infectious disease epidemiologist and pediatrician at Johns Hopkins University, told The Dispatch that it’s challenging to predict the trajectory of measles cases, but if large outbreaks continue into next year, he said it would look a lot like what we have seen in 2025. He likened the spread to an initial forest fire casting off sparks. “Those sparks are infectious individuals, and they travel to other communities,” he said. “If one of those sparks lands in another community where there’s a larger proportion of unvaccinated or non-immune individuals, then we tend to get this larger outbreak.”
“It’s connectivity between communities and then the relative susceptibility within those communities,” he added.
It’s possible that 2025’s flames could simply burn themselves out, but the greater the size and quantity of the fires, the more likely the country could experience a sustained spread of the disease and spikes among vulnerable clusters of people. While there have only been a handful of large outbreaks in 2025, 43 states have had one or more measles cases, and there have been 49 outbreaks of three or more related cases. Last year, there were only 16 outbreaks, and only 30 states had cases.
. . . . Epidemiologists and researchers warn that endemic spread of measles could possibly return in the coming decades. A modeling study published in the medical journal JAMA earlier this year estimated that the U.S. could experience more than 800,000 measles cases over the next 25 years if current vaccination rates in each state hold constant. Significantly, the study projected that if vaccination rates increased by just 5 percent, there would be fewer than 6,000 cases over the next quarter century.
“Our 2025 JAMA study and recent measles outbreaks have all suggested that the U.S. is on a tipping point for measles returning to becoming commonplace,” Dr. Nathan Lo, a Stanford researcher who co-authored the study, told The Dispatch.
But in the near term, Moss said that widespread transmission throughout the country is unlikely to emerge given the high level of population immunity. “We’re not going to go back yet to where we were in the prevaccine era or in the ’60s and ’70s,” he noted, “but we will probably have more frequent and larger outbreaks.”
One death from measles is one too many, and unless we get all the infants vaccinated, we’re going to have those deaths.
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili proves to be a determinist, but Andrzej’s environmental influence could fix this pickle!
Hili: I stepped on my own tail.
Andrzej: Then lift your left paw.
Hili: I can’t, I don’t have free will.
In Polish:
Hili: Przydepnęłam sobie ogonek.
Ja: To podnieś lewą łapkę.
Hili: Nie mogę, nie mam wolnej woli.
*******************
From Now That’s Wild:
From CinEmma:
From The Dodo Pet:
From Masih, keeping her eye on the unrest in Iran:
Translation from Farsi:
Chant of “#Death_to_the_Dictator” From Narrmak, Tehran,
From the proud people of Iran,
From awakened throats
“and fearless hearts. Nights of the Revolution,
Narrmak is in uproar.
January 3, 2026. #Nationwide_Protests
فریاد «#مرگ_بر_دیکتاتور»
از نارمک تهران،
از مردمان غیور ایران،
از حنجرههای بیدار
و قلبهای بیباک.شبهای انقلاب،
نارمک اوشاخلاری.✌️۱۳ دی ۱۴۰۴.#اعتراضات_سراسری #مرگ_بر_جمهوری_اسلامی pic.twitter.com/nSLn6zDx35
— Kosar Eftekhari (@kosareftekharii) January 3, 2026
From Luana (CAIR is neafarious):
Muslim organization, CAIR, would like Mamdani to hire Muslims at all levels of city government, make special accommodations for Muslim students to pray in public schools, and go soft on anti-Israel protestors. I
Islam is the fastest growing religion in NYC thanks to higher rates… pic.twitter.com/57GkEcgGvv
— Rupa Subramanya (@rupasubramanya) January 2, 2026
Also from Luana. I tell you, Mamdani is a bad actor.
I just read Mayor @ZohranKMamdani‘s statement on Venezuela.
He should me ASHAMED of himself.
He does not represent us. Venezuelans are HAPPY today. There is nothing to condemn except him standing with Maduro who will be rightfully tried and convicted in New York City. pic.twitter.com/uSoIHtjEXf
— Daniel Di Martino 🇺🇸🇻🇪 (@DanielDiMartino) January 3, 2026
The Number Ten Cat keeps a weather eye on American politics:
Resignation incoming? https://t.co/flwSd73Lve
— Larry the Cat (@Number10cat) January 3, 2026
From Simon. I wasn’t aware that the soccer organization FIFA had given Trump a peace prize. Now that we’re “at war” with Venezuela, that prize—a WTF moment—has no credibility:
I'm seriously starting to question the credibility of the FIFA Peace Prize.
— Tony Martin (@tonymartin.bsky.social) 2026-01-03T07:51:21.423Z
From Malcolm: a speedy six-legged robot:
American research institute IHMC’s six legged robot is built for speed and off road mobility.
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) January 2, 2026
One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:
This Dutch Jewish woman was killed, along with her parents and sister, with an injection of phenol into the heart, a horrible way to go, but common before gas chambers became the norm. She was 21. https://t.co/u5YqBzK7P0
— Jerry Coyne (@Evolutionistrue) January 4, 2026
Two posts from Dr. Cobb. He says that this first one has some good replies, too:
pound for pound this might be the funniest thing ever written
— dillo (wiglet tuttle) (@dillo.media) 2025-12-31T18:15:37.546Z
. . . and be careful with your “n”s in Spanish:
Just like every year, a friendly PSA: “Feliz ano nuevo” means “happy new anus.”“Feliz año nuevo” means “happy new year.”Wishing folks either one is nice, but make sure you’re using the one you mean.
— Gabino Iglesias (@gabino.bsky.social) 2025-12-31T16:08:27.561Z
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
It is the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor. -Max Eastman, journalist and poet (4 Jan 1883-1969)
I think this is (or ought to be) no less true of making oneself the object of one’s joke. (Or is it not a joke unless it’s at someone else’s expense?)
No one (except extreme leftists like Mamdani) is sorry to see Maduro out. But what now? From a WSJ article this morning:
Venezuela’s new leader is a socialist true believer who helped Nicolás Maduro maintain his grip on power for more than a decade as the country’s economy crumbled.
Now, President Trump is counting on leftist Delcy Rodríguez—Maduro’s vice president who became the country’s de facto leader on Saturday—to work with the U.S. as it, in Trump’s words, begins to run Venezuela.
https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/venezuelas-new-leader-is-a-hardline-socialist-like-maduro-875336e9
Maybe she’ll cooperate on the oil part (which Trump spent much time talking about in his press conference yesterday: I watched it all).
Re: Daniel Di Martino: “He does not represent us. Venezuelans are HAPPY today.”
Of course some (safely residing in the U.S.) are. Some aren’t. And many, whether they are or aren’t (and wherever they are residing), are against the U.S. invading Venezuelan sovereign territory, just as Amuricuns no less would be were their positions reversed.
We’ll never know one way or the other whether the currently-estimated forty Venezuelans – including an 80 year-old woman – killed in this “special military operation” were “HAPPY.” (Was an apartment building somehow mistaken for a military facility?) I await the first pious religioso DC politico wistful and regretful utterance about them. Or is it that the Venezuelans brought this on themselves? Were they simply the “few eggs that had to be cracked” (as the BLM folks so righteously informed us)? I guess they were no different from those killed on the speed boats.
Regarding the long arm of U.S. jurisdiction and imposition of U.S. law on other countries and their citizens: just another manifestation of arrogant “American Exceptionalism.”
Perhaps some noble Pinochet will rise to the occasion in Venezuela and eagerly bend to the will of the benevolent American Masters of Mankind. As George H.W. Bush said, “What we say, goes.” As Nixon said, “I am the President.” Another “peaceful, orderly, democratic transition,” as Kissinger said. (Re: East Timor, and the 60s U.S.-instigated overthrow of Sukarno in Indonesia replaced with the puppet Suharto.)
After 42 years is it again time to pay a visit to Grenada? We last paid a good will visit to the Dominican Republic in 1965. And who is the modern-day Smedley Butler to “run” Haiti across the island mountain? What good reason remains for not taking care of and “running” Cuba once and for all? The U.S. already has a naval base there. And no less, as a matter of high-minded principle, Greenland, what with the recent anointing of the beneficent and magnanimous Louisiana governor? Is Canada sufficiently obeisant?
Respectfully Filippo, and I always enjoy your writing here, I think you have made some connections which, while associated with this case, aren’t that relevant.
A lot of what your write above todays is a sort of “Gish Gallop” style run where we loose connection to the actual debate.
Your argument would be better on a larger plain of “US Foreign Policy”.
best,
D.A.
NYC
My favorite comment on the Maduro capture is: “The Dems finally found a criminal they didn’t want to come to the U.S.”
That is funny.
That so many seem to find funny a country invading another one and kidnapping its president, based on both false or flimsy premises (e.g., the drug trafficking charges [besides having pardoned mega-trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández]) and real ones (e.g., “we want the oil”) shows how low ethics and reasoning ability has descended in our ever darker and dystopian times. The world enjoyed as an action movie where ‘we’ (US) are the ‘good ones’ and ‘we’ do such amazing ‘mission impossible stunts’. To be cheered. Adults thinking like little children, enjoying great entertainment. Press conferences held from Mar-a-Lago – in between parties with scantily dressed women in giant cocktail glasses?
International rights are being sent down the drain, by petulant, ignorant, ultra-rich brats with access to the mightiest military power ever amassed (the waste of money defies beliefs, the danger to the world even more). This is too serious to shake it off as just another fait-divers.
Many US citizens are (some unknowingly) affected by the ‘the chosen people’ syndrome. In the light of what happened in Venezuela, why shouldn’t Trump be kidnapped also by a foreign state to be judged for the long list of crimes one could easily put together? Why shouldn’t Russia invade Ukraine, or China Taiwan? Let the strongest (but often most imbecile) take it all?
With this, the US is fast taking the lead as the top rogue state of the world. Up there with Russia and Iran. Those affected by the ‘chosen people’ syndrome will, of course, fail to see this (will not even understand how such a comparison can be made).
Criticising this has absolutely nothing to do with giving a show of support to Maduro. Making this assertion is either disingenuous or demonstrates my point on the infantile brain disorder that is spreading even around ‘educated’ people. Jumping at Mamdani for stating the obvious (and what any lawmaker will tell you) is, again, another clear illustration on this general state of (negative) irrational euphoria (I guess this is what defines mob behaviour). Or maybe this is a only a defensive self-protection behavior: a state of negation (“let’s laugh about it”) when confronted with the enormity of the scale of where the US is descending with Trump and its clique – taking most of the world down with it.
Hear, hear!
I agree with everything you’ve written, Martim. I almost feel as though I’m in a state of shock. Did we (the US) really do that? I’m so ashamed by this on so many levels. You’ve made many important points and I particularly appreciate you saying that criticism of this event in no way is a sign of support for Maduro. The hubris of this thing disgusts me. My god! What an ugly chapter in our history. Thank you for taking the time to articulate your thoughts.
No such thing as “international rights.” Sorry. Rights are national in character because they are guaranteed by your state’s ability to wreak violence on foreigners trying to subjugate you.
But what should have been done about Maduro, in your opinion? He was indicted by a grand jury in the U.S. for crimes alleged to have been committed against Americans. That’s kind of an Original Sin. You don’t give a show of support for him. Good for you! But should he just live out his life in comfort in Venezuela while he thumbs his nose at American justice?
And the joke is still funny.
Nice to welcome President Maduro (ret.) here. The Brooklyn jail is the pride our state accommodations. The notorious “Tombs” in Downtown Mhtn is being renovated so we keep the celebrities in Brooklyn. Which is cooler anyway. 🙂
After the horrible “Squad”, Comrade Mayor Mandami might be the most antisemitic politician in the US.
D.A.
New York, Islamic Republic of
Just a side note regarding the Brooklyn fed: it is right by the water, and behind it is one of the nastiest smelling transload/processing waste centers (‘recycling’, so a lot of rotting food waste) in the five boroughs. In my second (engineering) life, I just figure anything I wear there is going into the dumpster. Not worth trying to clean. Even just going to the parking lot. We have scrapped welding machines….
The stink permeates the prison property, as well. (last summer, getting through to the transload was interesting at times due to a prominent rap star held there, and the associated mob of press and others)
HA! The Bkn fed is a mystery to me, I’m a “Tombs” and Queens lockup kinda guy. 🙂
Then there’s the hell prison barge off Rikers. Like Disney Cruise ships… but not.
NYC is NOT a city one would like to be locked up in. (my card is below). 🙂
D.A.
NYC
Poetic justice that Mamandi’s NYPD is providing security for Maduro’s transport in the Big Apple.
Those email addresses remind me of “look and say” numbers – one of the late John Conway’s interests :
[begin excerpt ]
“For example, beginning with 1 (read as “one 1”), the next term is 11 (“two 1’s”), followed by 21 (“one 2, one 1”), 1211 (“one 1, one 2, two 1’s”), and so on, yielding the initial terms: 1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211, 13112221″
[end excerpt ]
Source:
https://grokipedia.com/page/Look-and-say_sequence
…
I’m intrigued – if nobody answers, how will anyone know the bear’s name!?
Your comment dredged this from the depths of my memory 😂 It ticked me as a kid, and still does 😁
11 is a race horse
12 is 12
1111 race
12112
When you say it out loud like this, it makes sense.
‘1 1’ is a race horse
‘1 2’ is one too
‘1 1’ won one race
‘1 2’ won one too
Venezuela. When watching Trump’s press conference live yesterday, I was struck by how much of the rhetoric was aimed at audiences beyond the U.S. and Venezuela. It seemed that Trump, Hegseth, and Rubio were giving notice to the Ayatollah, Putin, the Cuban leadership, and perhaps others (e.g., China vis-a-vis Taiwan) that the U.S. military can capture them in their beds at will. This operation has strategic impacts way beyond Venezuela.
Mamdani. If I understand correctly, Mamdani nullified all of Mayor Adams’s executive orders, not just those relating to Israel, Jews, and antisemitism. Conveniently, this creates plausible deniability for Mamdani. No, this wasn’t about the Jews, he can say, it was about establishing a clean slate for his new administration. Mamdani is emerging as a master at creating ambiguity.
Nothing ambiguous about his calls to “globalize the intifada”. Here in Australia a few weeks ago, two of his fellow Islamonazis actioned that on Bondi Beach. No doubt Mamdani smiled broadly when he heard the news.
yes mike.
So far, the comments read as being supportive of the toppling of the Venezuelan dictator. I well understand that sentiment, since there is a long list of reasons for why this makes the world a better place.
But our history of nation building, especially in failed states, has a low rate of success. Further, by claiming that we will run the country for the time being means that from all perspectives, we will own the statistically probable worsening of the conditions there. It would be far better for the Orange One to reinstate the legally elected president, Maria Corina Machado, who has wide support within the country. This effort at putting the country back on its feet may yet fail, but putting Machado back into leadership it has far better optics and it should have wider support.
Not certain what the issue is with Mamdani stating that attacking Venezuela and taking their dictator by force is against national and international law. That is a fact. That some Venezuelans in the US are happy is beside the point. This was an act of war, which is to be approved by Congress, if we care about our Constitution. This act of aggression was taken in order for US companies to profit from their oil. I am not a Mamdani supporter. I do have to agree with facts even if I disagree with his other views.
Trump’s DOJ was careful to point out that a Federal indictment against Maduro, his wife, and others (through the Southern District of New York, no less) was officially unsealed sometime in January 2026. He is charged with narco‑terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, possession of machineguns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machineguns and destructive devices.
There looks to be a lot of evidence for the charges, including intercepted communications, witness accounts, seizures, guilty pleas from co-conspirators, and regime records.
“A criminal indictment alone doesn’t provide authority to use military force to depose a foreign government, and the administration will probably hang this also on a theory of self-defense,” said Matthew Waxman, a law professor at Columbia University specializing in national security law.
Reuters
Which international law, exactly?
“International law prohibits the use of force in international relations except for narrow exceptions such as authorization by the U.N. Security Council or in self-defense.” Reuters
How is that law enforced?
Surely you understand the role of international law in promoting peace and world order, especially after WW2. I am not going to make any more responses to rhetorical statements.
Ah – a mistake – I forgot to lead the question above with :
“Without resorting to dialectic or any thought-terminating cliché, [etc.]”
What can I say – I am a one-dimensional site of demiurgic false consciousness. Thank goodness The Elect can identify it.
Thank you Bryan.
I’m sorry Emily. There’s an huuuge trust in this “international law” thingie.
It works well for and between democracies (eg. Law of the Sea, Antarctica, etc) but it has no real force. Call it an “advisory opinion”.
We – places like the the US and Israel, do our best to comport with it b/c we’re civilized. Many don’t. Do you think Putin, Xi, Maduro, or the dictator of Trashcanistan… care about international law? And therein is the problem.
International Law is not like reporting to the principal, or calling the local cops.
And who voted for it? The UN, which is mostly dictatorships?
No disrespect Emily but I think you’re not taking into account real world dynamics, violence and human behavior since forever.
D.A.
NYC
It was not against US law. Jeb Rubenfeld at the Free Press has a good article explaining why. He also says, rightly, that even if it is against international law, so what? We can and should ignore those laws; they were not made by our representatives.
His “running” Venezuela may be illegal even by US law (so says Rubenfeld) but capturing, trying, and imprisoning Maduro is not.
“You cannot say this was a law enforcement operation and then turn around and say now we need to run the country,” said Jeremy Paul, a professor at Northeastern University specializing in constitutional law. “It just doesn’t make any sense.”
Reutets
Yes. That’s why I wrote; “His “running” Venezuela may be illegal even by US law (so says Rubenfeld) but capturing, trying, and imprisoning Maduro is not.”
The Orange Toddler has not started “running” Venezuela. If and when he does, then he may be doing something illegal.
Look, I despise the man as much as any decent human would. He is a total disaster as a president and a vile, disgusting human being who I wish had long-ago succumbed to his cheeseburgers. But he didn’t break US law getting Maduro, who cares about the UN and, unless he tries to “run” Venezuela, he’s allowed to be the asshole that he is. It our albatross to carry because we can’t come up with decent or sane people to run our government.
“even if it is against international law, so what? We can and should ignore those laws; they were not made by our representatives.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if Herman Goerring uttered those words at Nuremburg.
Hitler was a vegetarian. What’s your point?
….and that’s my cemmenting limit……
These merely international laws were made by an international due process signed up to to by our treaties, by our representatives, following our democratic due processes (ratification by Congress, etc.). Unlike our current resort to rule by decree / Vis est lex / Quod licet iovi non licet bovi.
Blatantly disregarding them does avoid the usual diplomatic hypocrisies, but at serious cost to our trustworthiness, general legitimacy, and safety:
“You think that by cutting down the law you can get at the Devil. You cut down the law and the Devil climbs out in full view. And when the Devil turns on you — where will you be?”
(Sir Thomas More, played by Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons)
Trump has ample precedent to support his actions. Noriega of Panama was taken by the US military decades ago. Noriega tried to claim that his capture was illegal. US courts disagreed. This argument was detailed by Jed Rubenfeld in The Free Press.
I still hold, that the IHRA definition of antisemitism actually makes everyone an antisemite.
Reader Roger Lambert pointed out, that “certain” views doesn’t mean any views and that examples were given. However, those examples are preceded by “Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:” and also I’m not sure if those examples are included in all charters and legal texts that definition is adopted.
Since you cannot use the definition to say “This is not antisemitism”, everything by this definition is antisemitism.
The complete IHRA working definition of Anti-Semitism – the full document – is here, and includes all examples:
https://holocaustremembrance.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IHRA-non-legally-binding-working-definition-of-antisemitism-1.pdf
Please note that the IHRA specifically states that criticism of Israel – as one would do with any state – is not anti-Semitism. So “everything by this definition is antisemitism” is not strictly true.
More than 500 nations, states. governments, and educational entities have adopted the IHRA. I looked up only one – Harvard. They use the text of the full document, not just the preamble, but they leave out this paragraph:
“Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic. Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong.” It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative
character traits..”
The document you linked is identical to what their resource website provides. This still doesn’t change that a “certain perception” can be literally anything. The definition alone “just” giving actual antisemites a crowd of normal people to get lost in. It gets considerable worse, when any legal code adopts this. Then the application of those consequences rests entirely on the decision to prosecute. I loathe to be placed at the mercy of prosecution – therefore I oppose this definition.
It’s the same, if the penal code would adopt the mantras of “words are violence” and “silence is violence” to determine who has committed assault.
I understand, that you might be willing to bet on the reasonableness of the prosecutor. Here in Germany, I would even be willing to bet that the current prosecutors are reasonable – but I oppose it on principle. Just because those in power – be it at the top of institutions or nations – have adopted a definition which gives them even more discretionary power, doesn’t mean the definition is fine.
One common trope from antivaxxers re. measles is “I got it as a kid, and I was fine afterward.” I believe the fatality rate is in the 1% range, about the same as polio, but with polio there were the visuals of winding up in an iron lung or leg braces, etc.
People don’t seem to grasp that there’s a peripheral effect with measles too. It’s more subtle, and I don’t think that it was appreciated before the measles vaccine became available, and that is Immune Amnesia. Your immune memory is ablated, so you’re susceptible to a range of things that you had already acquired immunity to. I read somewhere that this occurs in about 1/3 of measles patients.
Another after-effect that has definitely become understood relatively recently is sub-acute sclerosing pan-encephalitis. Discussed on TWiV 1254, from ~18:30. It can develop even 10yrs later, and is fatal.
There’s an outbreak of measles now in South Carolina, where a pediatrician, Annie Andrews, is running for Lindsey Graham’s seat. She has recently said that she never would have imagined, back in medical school, that she’d be running for Senate with this slogan – “It’s Me or the Measles”.
Go Annie!
I am sure you remember the bad old days when people denied that cigarette smoking caused cancer. Everyone heard the “my father smoked a pack a day until he was 90” arguments that were made to justify smoking and against what everyone could see with their own eyes.
Just adding to your comment, it may be of interest…
Dr Andrea Love
Substack site.
She is thorough, is vehemently anti antivaxxer and hot on RFJ Jr.
https://open.substack.com/pub/immunologic/p/measles-is-not-a-harmless-illness?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&shareImageVariant=overlay&r=7li62
Venezuelan friends who live in Caracas heard the attack, they detest Maduro, but they also hate Trump. They face a worrying future.
Isn’t Trump sailing close to the wind with the Geneva Convention? I double checked with google, which tells me:
“prolonged or severe sensory deprivation of a prisoner is considered a form of torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, which is strictly prohibited under the Geneva Conventions and international law, violating core principles like humane treatment and the ban on coercion for information. While the Geneva Conventions don’t explicitly name “sensory deprivation,” techniques like sleep deprivation, hooding, and isolation used together, as ruled by courts, constitute torture.”
I suppose it depends how long Maduro was deprived of sight and hearing, but I don’t think there was any need to publish a photograph like that, except for Trump to massage his own ego.
Meh. He’s a prisoner of legitmate authority. He doesn’t have the same bodily rights as you and I (unless we too become prisoners); he can be handcuffed with ankle chains. Those are the kind of blinders people use to get sleep and are used here to prevent the prisoners from getting or exchanging visual information. He can easily reach up and move them off, if he wanted to. As for the hearing, I believe those are CEP/ANR (Communication EarPlug/Active Noise Reduction) headsets used for the same reason as the blinders but also for protection when flying in military aircraft; Maduro and wife were evacuated and transferred by helicopter.
Also, and this is true (see Jeb Rosenfeld’s article in the Free Press), because Maduro and wife are not US citizens, protections provided by the US Constitution don’t apply to them. I understand you said “Geneva Conventions” but this is not torture even by their standards. It doesn’t violate the US Constitution’s prohibition of cruel or unusual punishment. Maduro and wife are toast.
Re toast: Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social media that they had been indicted on drug and weapons charges and “will soon face the full wrath of American justice.”
Amid all the noise, this from the head of the Department of Justice got my attention. I grew up in a more optimistic time, when American justice was considered to be mainly about justice, not wrath¹. ISTM that these days “presumption of innocence” is faring no better than “freedom of speech” is.
. . . . .
¹ E.g. “Truth, justice, and the American way”
Agree. I almost made the same comment about ‘innocent until proven guilty’, but I didn’t feel I could say that about Maduro as he seems to be guilty of several crimes against the Venezuelan people, which is why I settled for saying that he should be treated in a civilised manner until his court case. When/if he is found guilty, then they can throw the book at him.
But regardless of her personal opinion, and the opinion of many Venezuelans, the AG (of all people!) shouldn’t be making assumptions about American justice, no matter how likely he is to be found guilty.
And the head of Health and Human Services shouldn’t be facilitating epidemics.
And ….
“Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world‑historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”
(ping Bryan)
I didn’t object to the handcuffs, and ankle chains would be okay too. The Geneva Convention says that sensory deprivation is torture, and he isn’t trying to get to sleep. They can easily prevent him sharing visual information by putting his wife in a separate room, although she probably is already separated from him.
He would be stupid to remove the earphones. Any US prisoner who dare remove earphones that have been put on them by US Forces would likely face a beating. The seat he’s on doesn’t look like an aircraft, but if he is in one, that’s even more reason not to leave him sensorily deprived with a blindfold.
His nationality should be irrelevant. He has been arrested by the USA. The USA should hold themselves to a higher standard than Maduro has.
I’d need to check, but I think the Geneva Convention takes precedence over the US Constitution, especially when it is being reported that Trump didn’t consult congress over his action.
I’m sure he will be found guilty of something but, until he is, Maduro should be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention.
Friends in Caracas fear Trump’s rule will be as bad as Maduro’s as he will increase the poverty there as he milks the country too. He should ensure that the duly elected president, chosen by the Venezuelan people, is restored urgently, and then he should leave them alone.
Of course, I only know what my friends and their friends are saying. Perhaps there should be a referendum or free election as soon as possible without letting Trump linger.
So you’re objecting to a blindfold, which isn’t a “hood”. OK. How do you know he would face a beating if he tried to remove his ear protectors? Do you think the Delta Force people are thugs?
Nothing for Americans takes precedence over the U.S. Constitution. But recall that the Constitution sets out the rules and limits for government. It doesn’t bind individuals. If an international convention appeared to conflict with American Constitutional sovereignty, the United States government would decline to endorse or ratify said convention as it could not have its citizens bound by the dictates of a foreign sovereign (except when the U.S. citizen is or was physically present inside a foreign country and accused of a crime there, of course.) For this reason, the United States has declined to ratify many international conventions such as the Law of the Sea and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, to cite just two examples.
The United States has signed the four Geneva Conventions and the third optional Protocol (but not the first two.) What this means is that the relevant domestic laws which are binding on U.S. citizens, such as in this case the laws governing how its armed forces make war, are written to require its soldiers to conduct themselves in accord with the Conventions. But what binds the soldiers is U.S. military law and orders from superior U.S. officers, not the Geneva Conventions themselves. The mere existence of any Convention doesn’t bind the U.S. soldier in any way, nor is it superior to any American law.
More to the point, Mr. Maduro is not and never was an enemy combatant. The Geneva Convention doesn’t apply to him. Enemy combatants taken into custody by the opposing armed forces are treated as prisoners of war (to whom the Geneva Conventions apply), not as criminals unless they are independently suspected of crimes. Then they are no longer just prisoners of war to be repatriated when hostilities cease but are referred to the criminal justice system and held in jails for trial, not in PoW camps. As a common civilian criminal arrestee he can be secured by whatever means is judged necessary and lawful. The Geneva Convention no more applies to him than it does to me if I was arrested in the U.S. under an indictment for a felony.
See “Measles for the One Percent Vaccines, Waldorf schools, and the problem with liberal Luddites” in the Cut. I got into considerable trouble for denouncing Waldorf schools. It turned out the my boss’s grandchildren attended Waldorf schools. Traditional liberal/left public health types are very pro-vaccine. So are traditional conservatives. At one time, Mississippi had a higher vaccination rate than California. Progressive liberal types were not pro-vaccine. RFK comes out of the progressive anti-vax movement. A strange choice for Trump.
Frank:
“friend” of WEIT Ross Dotard..sorry Doutharth? of the Times…. sends his kids to Waldorf School in CT, which surprised me. They’re quite anti-vax I think, along with the “Steiner Schools” in Oz (are they international or just Australia, I don’t know).
That era (1800s) in Germany started a lot of nutty ideas.
I have a lot to say about this, vaccines, but I’m past my loudmouth limit!
best,
D.A.
NYC
“Can Coulter”- hahaha, nice, I agree!
I don’t remember your sister’s teddy bear’s name, but it looks like a newer version of Toasty.
“Muslim organization, CAIR, would like Mamdani to hire Muslims at all levels of city government, make special accommodations for Muslim students to pray in public schools, and go soft on anti-Israel protestors.”
I’ll be watching this. For decades, it was predominantly right wing Christians that would try to get prayer in schools and it was mainly liberals who would (correctly) fight it and point out that this is unconstitutional. Now, we get to see what principles currently govern the Left. Is it rational defense of separation of Church and State, or identity politics (i.e it’s ok when we do it)?
If this first wall is breached, then teaching of evolution may be the next target. Islam has strong creationist traditions and belief in evolution is quite low in Muslim majority countries.
The old arguments will be wheeled out (“teach the controversy”, “it’s just a theory”, and so on), but dressed up in Muslim garb. And don’t be surprised if Christian creationists come tumbling in through this breach…
A canary in the coal mine, this issue…