General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI do not get it, I do not understand it, and why the press is not ripping the government a new one is beyond me
Why in the world is our government bombing boats from Venezuela because of suspected drugs and now say and now he wants to invade Venezuela on land
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/11/28/donald-trump-military-land-sea-boats-venezuela-strikes/87510475007/
Meanwhile
Putin and Xi are supporting Venezuela??.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/venezuela-reveals-xi-and-putins-letters-to-maduro/ar-AA1R6YcF
And now
he is pardoning the ex president Hernandez of Honduras who was extradited to the United States for drug smuggling and violent gang recruitment then found guilty in an American court and sentenced to 45 years here
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-says-pardon-ex-honduras-234756645.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
GOBSMACKED
Irish_Dem
(78,457 posts)Peacetrain
(24,264 posts)to just a few ultra rich families.. disaster waiting to happen ..
Dave says
(5,298 posts)AZJonnie
(2,455 posts)It's serious fascist shit
Peacetrain
(24,264 posts)Traildogbob
(12,280 posts)Easy diagnosis. The government owns the media. That government is made up of the owners of said media.
Nobody that was elected (?) is the government.
Musk, Bozo, Zuck, Murdocks and all the known ones plus Kochs.
That is the government. Those suits that pretend to be are just a reality show.
multigraincracker
(36,777 posts)Peacetrain
(24,264 posts)RockRaven
(18,519 posts)"The press" in the US is overwhelmingly owned by/composed of large corporations.
Peacetrain
(24,264 posts)media.
Bluetus
(2,051 posts)See point #6 https://voxpopulisphere.com/2017/08/23/lawrence-britt-14-characteristics-of-fascism/
And the "why"? Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world -- more than Saudi Arabia.
Notice that the fascists don't talk much about invading Greenland these days to steal their mineral resources. They got too much push-back from Europe. They figure Venezuela is an easier target. They are rushing to get this underway before the mid-terms.
Kid Berwyn
(22,468 posts)The same club which makes money off war and oil (and drugs and money laundering).
Peacetrain
(24,264 posts)twodogsbarking
(17,073 posts)and they brought their own referees.
sop
(17,070 posts)They've always been cheerleaders for the spectacle of war; it drives viewership, and there's money to be made
Peacetrain
(24,264 posts)dickthegrouch
(4,206 posts)gulliver
(13,677 posts)It's possible you said it yourself by noting that China and Russia are meddling with Venezuela. We don't want to let our adversaries get a foothold there. The drug boats could be a pretext.
lostnfound
(17,328 posts)The US is threatening, Venezuela will be drawn closer to our adversaries. Any pro-American thinkers in Venezuela will be weakened.
gulliver
(13,677 posts)I don't think we can afford to do nothing. I really don't know the full story in Venezuela. Currently, I'm under the impression that the previous leader, Chavez, tried to use "fool-bait" Communism, an absolutely obviously braindead approach to economics, guaranteed to fail the Venezuelans.
I'd much rather see Venezuela run under social democracy. Note: not democratic socialism but social democracy based on regulated capitalism. That's good for the United States and very, very good for the people of Venezuela, imo.
Jack Valentino
(4,115 posts)Particularly not a war initiated on false premises.
Blues Heron
(8,110 posts)gulliver
(13,677 posts)I don't think we should be saying, for example, that if the Venezuelan people were Trump-style demagogued into becoming a client state of China that we don't have the right to say something about it. We also shouldn't take the position that Venezuela's neighbors have nothing to say about. I.e., we leave it up to the people of the region, including us, not just the people of Venezuela.
Venezuela can do what they want, but we have a regional "HOA" they need to abide by. To not recognize this would be unjust and would disempower and commit a cruelty against the people of neighboring countries, including our own.
Blues Heron
(8,110 posts)gulliver
(13,677 posts)Best I can tell from online, Maduro is highly unpopular and even a dictator. Would Venezuelans (who apparently voted him out) fight against the United States for him? I doubt it.
He might end up with a fate similar to Noriega's, spending time in a U.S. prison. Capturing Noriega was an invasion of Panama by name, but the armed forces of Panama basically just folded. And that was before drones.
I really would like to see the Venezuelan people freed and prosper, but it's secondary to our own national interests to me. If the Venezuelans were to freely choose by democratic means to be client states of our adversaries, endangering U.S. citizens, it wouldn't matter to me. We have a democracy too, and we're "us." They're "them."
Jack Valentino
(4,115 posts)with this, is just a pretext--- and Trump's accusation that they
have been shipping fentanyl to the U.S. when there is no documentation
that they even produce that drug in any quantity is proof of it!
(Meanwhile, so far as I know, no mention of cocaine has passed from Trump's lips---
what has gone up his nose, however, is a different question!)
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/us/politics/trump-venezuela-fentanyl.html
Fentanyl from Venezuela, 'weapons of mass destruction' in Iraq---
we've seen this Republican cos-play before.... !
FakeNoose
(39,731 posts)But Maduro being a "socialist" would be irrelevant if Putin gets their oil. Most likely scenario is that Chump sets himself up to be a strawman so that helpless Venezuela becomes a defensive partner with Putin ... who goes in and raids their oil reserves.
NCDem47
(3,262 posts)Last edited Sat Nov 29, 2025, 02:28 PM - Edit history (1)
the "media" will suddenly find a spine. Deep investigative pieces. Harrasing the President for minutiae and proof on anything and everything. Manufactured scandals. Claims the WH is stonewalling the press. Editorials of corruption, waste and how out-of-touch the President and his admin are.
Basically the Biden years all over again.
miyazaki
(2,582 posts)Need to turn the tables on the national media and expose their political hatchet work in very public ways, straight to their faces.
demosincebirth
(12,804 posts)lostnfound
(17,328 posts)bomb Venezuela to draw the US into a protracted bullsh** war to piss off all of South America
Or
Even without an all-out war, use threats and random boat bombing to antagonize much of South America
Thereby driving them further into Russias bear hug
Beartracks
(14,246 posts)... Trump doesn't even recognize he's in a fight. He thinks Putin is a straight up guy, even a friend. Trump is so being played.
================
Gimpyknee
(1,008 posts)Beartracks
(14,246 posts)Gimpyknee
(1,008 posts)Beartracks
(14,246 posts)KS Toronado
(22,392 posts)The standard million or did the grifter find out he had more stashed away?
returnee
(764 posts)Im sure it was a huge payday for TSF. Occams razor, ya know? No other explanation comes close. The only other one I can think of is If Hernandez had dirt on TSF, but then he would just have him killed.
BaronChocula
(3,870 posts)is giving conservative white men the white man's pass. People do it, as well as establishments like the press/media.
In America, when you're with the group in Picture A you get all the doubt, all the blame and none of the credit (even if you're a white male). When you're with the group in Picture B you get none of the doubt, none of the blame and all of the credit.

Picture A

Picture B
H2O Man
(78,366 posts)McDonalds serves para-burgers. Corporate media serves para-news. Thus, one has a choice of what food and media they consume. Yet some still fail to grasp that McDonalds does not serve lobster.
lapfog_1
(31,500 posts)you can forget WaPo, NYT, ABC, CBS, NBC...
it only a matter of time before they take Messnow off the air or "change the format"...
There will be few truth tellers left in the world. If Reform gets ahold of GB, you can forget the BBC too.
RobinA
(10,458 posts)I think "the media" just isn't all that well educated anymore. I've read some real head scratchers from reporters in mainstream newspapers.
czarjak
(13,378 posts)Cherokee100
(423 posts)Braznov is trying to eliminate the competition, for his buddies in Columbia.
BWdem4life
(2,902 posts)popsdenver
(1,234 posts)most people I know don't understand that the U.S. Mass Media is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party, with all most all of them owned/operated by Uber wealthy Republicans.....
They may as well be a Republican Party Criminal Syndicate called PRAVDA..............and everyone working for the Mass Media knows if they don't write/broadcast praise on Trump and his CABAL, and also tear down the Dems, they are gonna lose their jobs..............AND Trump is gonna come after them personally and despicably in his comments.....
in2herbs
(4,091 posts)The ICC would have authority because the assault was on a citizen/country it has jurisdiction over and the assault was conducted by a non-member country and citizen (USA.) Hegseth doesn't have immunity!
Even if all the ICC could do at this time was to issue a warrant against Hegseth, the warrant would prevent Hegseth from flying to other countries for fear of being arrested.
Zackzzzz
(212 posts)I belong to a fishing group and many in
the group DREAM AND DO go down
to Venezuela to fish for big game.
Other than that,
What is happening absolutely horrifies me.
I am sick at heart.
H2O Man
(78,366 posts)(recommended)
You are right on target. We are witnessing a cluster of cowardly punks viciously attacking defenseless ships, and preparing a military invasion in order to have a "national security crisis" to fully expand his powers. They are vampires in the most literal sense. And thus far, the cowardly maga in DC are afraid to even try to stop him.
As citizans, we have the responsibility to do our best to put the brakes on. People at the grass roots level have to communicate a "no way in hell" message, including to our elected representatives. We need to be exercising all of our Amendment 1 rights at this time.
struggle4progress
(125,244 posts)duckworth969
(1,034 posts)Venezuela has the largest oil reserve on the planet; the Orinoco Belt, and significant amounts of rare minerals, specifically, Coltan.
snot
(11,392 posts)(1) proved to be a disaster for the people we were supposedly trying to help, and
(2) proved most likely to have been about giving our oligarchs access to the resources in that people's country oil, rare earth metals, etc.
US policy has no problem ignoring the plight of the oppressed if they either (a) live where there's nothing much to exploit, or (b) are oppressed by a government that allows our oligarchs to exploit their resources in exchange for a cut of the action.
You'll never hear the MSM question the grounds for a war that's in the interests of the oligarchs, because the oligarchs own the MSM. For truth, you'll have to tune into some new stations.
TexasBushwhacker
(21,072 posts)We want their oil.
betsuni
(28,578 posts)B.See
(7,486 posts)GiqueCee
(3,114 posts)... the irrefutable fact that Trump's primary motivation is greed. A close second is his insatiable craving for total control over the lives of others, more commonly referred to as "POWER".
Now add oil. Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the Western Hemisphere, possibly the world. THAT'S why the Orange Hellbeast wants to invade Venezuela, and oil company executives grow faint at the delicious prospect of profits beyond imagining.
Next question...
flashman13
(1,836 posts)Walleye
(43,430 posts)Just start out like that and let them flounder around
W_HAMILTON
(9,950 posts)spanone
(140,802 posts)They are nothing but propaganda fodder.