Happy NEW Year!

well, This new
'schlogg am tk'
thingy's a Surprise

'Specially on New Year's Day!

brb!

No, this was not posted on 1/1/2026 at 5:30pm - That's not a timestamp.

UNHAPPY NEW YEAR! - Commie mayors in NYC and Seattle!

No, this was not posted on 1/1/2026 - that is not a timestamp!

Starting 26 with a banger

You can only see the comments when you make a comment.

Looks like whoever fixed the tech glitch

I should have waited for Nathalie to have another cup of coffee and finish up the post before jumping in and snarking. Sorry about that Nathalie!

I eagerly await the rain of socialist hellfire as I sell covered calls on a variety of tech stocks from my secret investment bunker somewhere in Bellevue.

Well now that December's over that must mean the ACA subsidy vote those 8 enlightened centrist Dems won for us happened and the premium crisis was averted right? No? Dems just let prices skyrocket and their only plan is to use the resultant pain and suffering as campaign material? I'm shocked.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/02/democrats-obamacare-subsidies-midterms-00708576

I hope the protestors in Iran don't put any faith in Trump's vow to "rescue" them from their ruling regime. Chap's a bounder.

Those progressive Europeans clearly value preserving the historic nature of buildings over defacing historic property with fire sprinklers, or adding costs that would make everyone's drinks more expensive.

"Swiss Fire Kills 40: A fire ripped through a bar at the Crans-Montana, a Switzerland ski resort, less than two hours after midnight. The flames took 40 souls and altered the trajectory of the year for 119 injured."

There are things more valuable than human life, even for Progressives.

@10: It wouldn't have made a difference. Do you think that Mike Johnson and John Thune would have had an epiphany and ushered in an ACA subsidy extension?

"Last year, the man's mother filed and won a protection order against him."

Progressives want a piece of paper as the means of self-defense, when only deadly force will do. Imagine if the mom (or other domestic abuse victim) had a firearm of her own, rather than a piece of paper as a flimsy shield.

@13 if the shutdown had kept going it was very possible, but those 8 Dems were too weak

@15, Government shutdowns were started, and have been most often used, by Republicans.

Not one has worked for the Republicans. Now the one and only one done by Dems has failed. Anyone see a pattern here.

Not one has ever achieved its objective.

@9: I just read three explanations of a covered call and I still don't understand it. What does "keeping the premium" mean?

Grok to the rescue!

= = =

In a covered call strategy, you own shares of a stock (typically at least 100 shares per option contract) and sell (or "write") a call option on those shares. The buyer of the call option pays you an upfront fee called the premium, which is immediately credited to your account.

"Keeping the premium" means you get to retain this full upfront payment as income, no matter what happens with the option or the stock price afterward. This is the key benefit of the strategy—it provides immediate cash flow while you hold the stock.

Here's how it plays out in the two main scenarios:

If the stock price stays below the call option's strike price at expiration: The option expires worthless (the buyer doesn't exercise it). You keep your shares and the entire premium as profit. This is often the ideal outcome for covered call sellers, as it generates income without forcing you to sell the stock.

If the stock price rises above the strike price and the option is exercised (assigned): Your shares are "called away"—you must sell them to the option buyer at the strike price. You still keep the full premium on top of the proceeds from selling the shares at the strike. (Note: You miss out on any additional upside beyond the strike price, but the premium boosts your overall return.)

In both cases, the premium acts as extra income or a buffer—it reduces your effective cost basis in the stock and provides downside protection (though limited if the stock drops sharply).This strategy is popular for generating yield on stocks you already own and are neutral to mildly bullish on, but it caps your upside potential in exchange for that reliable premium income.

@9 A Call is an option to buy a stock at a particular price for a set amount of time. A Put is its opposite, the right to sell a stock at a particular price for a set amount of time. These options can both be bought and sold.

If you sell a Call, you are obliged to deliver the stock shares at the strike price if the option is "exercised" before or at expiration. If you don't already own that stock, you have to buy it at the market price to deliver it. If you do own the stock already, your owned shares can be delivered to fulfill that obligation. You have "covered" the Call with stock you already own.

The purpose of this trade is to make some small amount of income from a declining or stable stock, called the "premium". If someone buys your Call, they pay you an amount per share called the "premium" for the right to buy at the strike price. This covers your risk that the stock will rise above the strike price before you have to deliver it. If the price never reaches the strike price before the option expires, you pocket all the premium and deliver nothing.

@19: Thx. I imagine the premium is subject to capital gains.

Why was a 21-year-old granted a concealed pistol license? Are concealed pistol licenses just thrown about to every 21-year-old immature dipshit who thinks its a good idea to take his gun collection to the Seattle Space Needle on New Years Eve? Something major is missing from this process, pray that dumb-dumbs stupidity permanently bars him from ever owning guns again, let alone a concealed pistol permit. Thank the Lord for the alert people who reported this imbecile, thank you!

@3 Still don’t know the difference between a democratic socialist and a communist, huh?

@22: I do, but might was well use the noun that ignites the passions of their desires.

@21, Carrying openly is a Constitutional right, so denial of a CPL is not a denial of the right to carry.

There is court precedent that if you are 18, you have the same right to a firearm or CPL as any other adult.

In Washington, the requirements for a CPL are providing ten fingerprints and passing a background check to make sure you don't have felonies that disqualify one from possessing a firearm.

He was arrested for a Gross Misdemeanor, which with no prior criminal record, gets him time served, or probation.

The net outcome of Mamandi's inauguration is merely that Albany will have gained exactly one additional panhandler walking its streets.

@10:

So, the GQP has been fighting tooth-and-claw since the inception of the ACA nearly 15 years ago, holding some 70 votes to kill it, but all of a sudden it's the Democrat's (who hold a minority in both houses of Congress) fault for not being able to push the extension through? What a fucking waste of oxygen you are.

@14:

"Imagine if the mom (or other domestic abuse victim) had a firearm of her own..." We can imagine that scenario, and the most likely outcomes are that either she would still have been killed or they would have killed each other. Your mythical "good guy with a gun" scenario occurs so rarely that it's barely worth mentioning, because, even with some estimated 500,000,000 guns already in-circulation in this country, how often do you hear about that actually happening?

I feel slightly silly with this comment after reading so much angst and vitreol above BUT ... that egg cooking video is the bomb! I watched it earlier today after seeing it on NYTimes. Turns out it was first posted a year ago and she's got a whole series on YouTube about cooking, which I now much watch all of them.

@26: "Your mythical "good guy with a gun" scenario occurs so rarely that it's barely worth mentioning, because, even with some estimated 500,000,000 guns already in-circulation in this country, how often do you hear about that actually happening?"

Answer: Whenever you read about a cop taking down a killer.

@26 since you apparently don't remember, Democrats shut the government down to fight for an extension of the subsidies, then the 8 stupidest Dems voted with the Republicans to pass their budget sans extension. We were told that their betrayal was in exchange for the promise of a vote on extending the subsidies in December. December has come and gone and there is still no extension. As it turns out those 8 dipshits forfeited their best leverage for absolutely nothing. So yes, it's their fault for just giving up on a legislative victory that was within their grasp.

Expect more from your electeds.

@23 So you know you’re lying and you’re doing it anyway. Classy!

@28 "Answer: Whenever you read about a cop taking down a killer."

Liberals 100% buy into 'good guy with a gun' theory they just believe the only'good guys' are government agents. The question isn't whether guns can be effectively used for protection it's whether civilians are allowed to protect themselves or just have to hope a cop gets there in time (and doesn't shoot them by mistake).

@26, Since a defensive use of a firearm is not a crime, it does not make it into any government database. There is no mandate to report it, and no place to categorize it if it is. Often they don't even make the news.

The best data, keeping in mind the extensive limitations on data collection noted above, is 2,200 times a year by non-cops. For cops its 1,200 times a year. So 3,400 is the best measure we have and it is probably higher.

75% of people shot with handguns live (E.g. At Brown University, 84% of those shot lived, and 78% of those in the room were not struck. Had the shooter been disrupted by a defensive shooter, those stats would likely have been better) . The most likely outcome of a two person gunfight is one person lives. The second most likely is that both live. The rarest outcome is both die.

For a publication and group of commenters that are generally in favor of maximum individual freedom to choose what is best for themselves, your consistent position of denying individuals, particularly vulnerable individuals at a disadvantage in violent confrontation, the right to choose the most effective defensive option for themselves, is intellectually inconsistent.

It lacks a pragmatic basis as well since, bystanders being killed by defensive gun use is statistically rare. It's far more rare than stopping the unlawful attacker. When it does occur, its lawful in all 50 states, either by statute (e.g. RCW 9a.16.030) or by court precedent (E.g. California's ruling by its Supreme Court based on the legal doctrine of transferred intent).

A piece of paper, unsigned, or signed by a Judge, only provides whatever protection the thickness of the paper offers as armor against a projectile, edged weapon, or blunt object.

As much as you and I might disagree in this forum, I sincerely hope that if you are ever in a situation with a stalker, disaffected spouse or partner, burglar in your dwelling, or other similar threat, that you will get every legally permitted protective order, and that you will enjoy, and use, the right to arm yourself for your protection, rather than rely on that protective order. I also support your right to trust solely in your stalker choosing to voluntarily comply with the court. Whichever option you choose, it ought to be your decision, and yours alone. Not mine, not a legislator.

@26 nevermind you definitely do remember and that's why you're so salty--at the time you thought the 8 dummy Dems were strategic masterminds:

"Look, I get all the knee-jerky hand-wringing over the alleged "defection" of the Democrats who voted to re-open the government, but from a strategic perspective it may in fact be more more effective in the long-term ... "Lose the battle, win the war" seems to be the operative expression here, and all of this puts the Democrats in a much more favorable position in the long-run than they would have been had they allowed the shutdown to continue"

https://www.thestranger.com/slog-am/2025/11/13/80323991/slog-am-katie-wilson-is-our-next-mayor-the-government-shutdown-is-over-and-google-chooses-evil/comments/33

@30: Oh, but saying Trump is a Nazi isn’t a lie?

Congress must stop Trump. He is wagging the dog to stop accountability from the epstein files. He cannot unilaterally wage war and capture sitting presidents. This madness must end, now. If we stop holding true to the constitution and the rule of law we will lose what is America to the wet dream of Hitler realized by Trump. Make it stop.

Awesome: Donald captured Maduro and freed the nation from Maduro's narco death grip that has terrorized the nation for over 25 years!

Wow, NYC and Seattle are falling into socialism and Venezuela just escaped it!

Venezuelas in sheer ecstasy! Mass celebration in the streets!

https://x.com/i/status/2007453699078009033

@35: "Make it stop."

Why, don't you want terrorized and improvished people to be freed?

At least the oil companies are happy.
OK Trump, where’s my $2 a gallon gas?

@40: Not in this state. Blame Olympia - not Donald.

as can we
can others now
do too, KkKoolie?

is it now Ok to
schwoop in and
capture a country's
Leader? he's well-protected here
but will Cadet Bonespurs be 'safe' if he ventures Elsewhere?

@35 -- Fucking Bingo.
Thank you, CDizzle!
we Miss you!

do you suppose
there might be much
'Mass celebration in the streets!'
should we happen to lose our 'dear leader'?

@42 CORRECTION:

as can we
can others now
do too, KkKoolie?

is it now Ok to
schwoop in and
capture a country's
Leader? he's well-protected here
but will Cadet Bonespurs be 'safe' if he ventures Elsewhere?

do you suppose
there might be much
'Mass celebration in the streets!'
should we happen to lose our 'dear leader'?

@35 -- Fucking Bingo.
Thank you, CDizzle!
we Miss you!

Dearest Moderators:
Please delete
@42.

Thank You!

@42: "is it now Ok to
schwoop in and
capture a country's
Leader?"

It has always been OK. I'm sure you would have wanted that done to Adolf Hitler.

@35 & after: Every progressive can now assure us a Pres. Harris would’ve done exactly the same thing at exactly the same time, because no diff’ between major parties, amirite?

(And to think, we hardly ever mention Gaza anymore — at least since the peace which progressives hate SOOO much arrived there.)

Pooty
capturing
Zelenski's 'okay'?

China doing likewise
to Taiwan?

the former
'leader of the
Free World' -- that's
who WE Used to be. but now
we're just leading the Planet into the Sewer

'thanks' KkKoolie
and all the Wormtongues
who helped Elect Cadet Bonespurs

with their making
Genocide ok
Again.

"oh -- but
it's not Actually
'Genocide'! it's Only
'Genocide Lite!' the World
doesn't Know WTF it's even Talking About!!"

but
We're
Learning,
wormmy. we're Learning.

I have to admire Thirteen12’s consistency.

Thirteen12 after Democrats pass on a party line vote legislation that improves the lives of millions of people: this is an example of why the Democrats are terrible, you should vote for Republicans instead.

Thirteen12: after Republican pass on a party line vote legislation that harms millions of people: this is an example of why Democrats are terrible, you should vote for Republicans instead.

Trumpers gonna Trump!

@35, Congress has been missing in action.

Something even Marjorie Taylor Greene has noted in her interview with New York Magazine on why she resigned.

Brendan O'Neill offers this broadside at the "kaffiyeh crew" over at Spectator,

And just like that, the left loses interest in the Middle East. In 2025, they spoke of little else. They culturally appropriated Arab headwear, poncing about in China-made keffiyehs. They wrapped themselves in the Palestine colours. They frothed day and night about a ‘murderous regime’ – you know who. And yet now, as a Middle Eastern people revolt against their genuinely repressive rulers, they’ve gone schtum. [Kossack- They actually went mum upon the Gaza ceasefire]

What is it about revolts in Iran that rankle the activist class? These people love to yap about ‘resistance’ and ‘oppression’. Yet the minute men and women in Iran rise up in resistance against the oppressive theocracy that immiserates and subjugates them, they go coy. Their solidarity evaporates. Their flag-waving ends. They go back to tweeting about TV...

The protests are morphing into a collective rage against theocracy itself. Students have joined: young women and men sick of being told what to wear and how to think by the ayatollah classes. It is now the largest revolt to have shaken Iran since the uprising in 2022 over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman from Iranian Kurdistan who was accused by the morality police of not wearing her veil properly...

For those of us who love liberty, who support the freedom of the individual against the dictates of theocratic strongmen, these are stirring scenes. It is especially electrifying to see Iran’s young women once again raise a collective middle finger to their Islamist oppressors. Women in Iran face huge legal and social discrimination – that many are throwing off their hijabs and saying ‘No more’ is a wonderful blow for equality against cruelty.

So where are the solidarity marches? Where are the gatherings outside Iranian embassies to echo the protesters’ cry for an end to the sexist, regressive rule of the ayatollahs?

It’s an anti-war uprising too. Protesters are chanting ‘Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, my life for Iran!’, in glorious protest against the regime’s wasteful spending on its anti-Semitic proxy armies of Hamas and Hezbollah. Where are the Western anti-imperialists to cheer this demand for social spending over the squandering of billions on a medieval war of attrition against the world’s only Jewish state?

This is where we get to the ugly truth of the left’s creepy silence on Iran. Where Iranian progressives understand that Hezbollah and Hamas are brutal outfits doing the bidding of a ruthless regime, our activist class has a tendency to view them as ‘resistance’ movements.

They could never get behind the Iranian people’s cry for those neo-fascist militias to be defunded because they are drunk on the delusion that these terrorists are an important bulwark against the ‘real menace’ in the Middle East: Israel. Their Israelophobia has so thoroughly shattered their moral compasses that they bristle at the very suggestion that Iran should stop funding Israel’s hateful foes and instead should focus on improving the lot of the Iranian people.

We end up in the truly perverse situation where the privileged keffiyeh classes of the West instinctively want the Iranian regime to survive – in order that it might continue sticking it to evil Israel – while the young of Iran dream of the regime’s withering away. The revolt in Iran has exposed not only the crisis of legitimacy of the ayatollah classes but also the treachery of Western progressives. It’s now clear that their luxury cause of madly hating Israel takes precedence over everything else, including offering solidarity to the freedom-yearning people of Iran. Your liberty will have to wait, guys – we haven’t destroyed the Jewish state yet.

There’s another ingredient in their moral cowardice – the fear of being thought ‘Islamophobic’. A generation raised to believe that everything from criticising the Koran to dissing the hijab is a form of bigotry is never going to be able to stand with people who are throwing their hijabs on to open fires and taking the mick out of their Islamic rulers. The left’s snivelling silence on Iran speaks to how far they have fallen down the well of moral relativism.

Thanks, kossy!

& Pls:
keep me
Updated on
to Whom I must
Direct my Ire! so little
Time -- so Many Atrocities!

"It’s now clear that their luxury cause of madly hating Israel takes precedence over everything else, including offering solidarity to the freedom-yearning people of Iran. Your liberty will have to wait, guys – we haven’t destroyed the Jewish state yet." --also @kossy

not to Worry, koz!

Israel (well, bibi and his
coalition of the Fasciis) is powerfully
Busy, bent on Destroying Israel! and taking down

Jews, Planetwide! Whoops!

see:

“Israel’s atrocities
and the impunity they receive are
undoubtedly the number one driver of anti-Semitism worldwide."

-- Aaron Maté

'The [Iranian] protests are
morphing into a collective
rage against theocracy itself.

Students have joined:
young women and men sick
of being told what to wear and
how to think by the ayatollah classes.

It is now the largest revolt
to have shaken Iran since the
uprising in 2022 over the death in
custody of Mahsa Amini, a young wo-
man from Iranian Kurdistan who was accused
by the morality police of not wearing her veil properly...

For those of us who love liberty,
who support the freedom of the individual
against the dictates of theocratic strongmen, these are stirring scenes.

It is especially electrifying
to see Iran’s young women once again
raise a collective middle finger to their Islamist oppressors.

Women in Iran face huge legal and social discrimination –
that many are throwing off their hijabs and saying
"No more" is a wonderful blow for
equality against cruelty.'

Also also @thekoz!

Bravissimo, koz,
and BRAVISSIMA,
to those Brave Enough
to Risk their Lives in seemingly
Never Ending Struggles to Overthrow
our Oppressors! may WE have the Fortitude

to do Likewise when our Fascists impose a little
Sharia Law on our sorry asses! Gracias!

@39. You have never missed the forest for the trees more than with this disgraceful comment.

Hey everybody, Coolie thinks it's fine to sacrifice the bill of rights and Constitution and the rule of law domestically so we can prop up a puppet state to oppress any Venezuelans who try to nationalize their oil industry like Mossadegh. What happened in Iran in 1952 in Operation Ajax again? You poor, stupid, weak-minded fool. Don't you realize life goes on after you are dead? Leave a better legacy than this bullshit, you pitiful scum.

@47 try "thirteen12 when Democrats pathetically concede and allow Republicans to harm millions of people: this is an example of why the Democrats are terrible, you should vote for socialists instead."

@49

Pretty spot on analysis.

I would add that the reason the privileged keffiyeh classes of the West are in this predicament is because they have fallen completely for the Ayatollah’s propaganda dividing the Middle East (and the World) as a conflict between colonizers and the oppressed.

The privileged keffiyeh classes of the West will need to reinvent their entire world view to view the theocratic Islamic states as the actual oppressors.

@49 wait, this Brendan O'Neill? This is your guy?

https://spectator.com/article/donald-trump-is-the-real-anti-fascist-hero/

@55 — “The Democrats need to stop the GOP by exercising the power that I have repeatedly argued against giving them and because they don’t have the power that I actively worked against them getting they are failures. Instead you should vote in a way that will result in even bigger GOP majorities and even worse things happening in the US and around the world. I have a giant galaxy brain.”

Amazing shit you’re posting. Truly incredible work.

@57

Interesting article. I think it gives Trump to much credit for the hostage release but the last paragraph deserves consideration.

“We need to ask why so many in our own societies took the side not of the oppressed Jewish hostages but of their oppressors. Why so many chose to make excuses for Hamas while demonising the nation it invaded. Today we can share in Israel’s joy. Tomorrow we must interrogate the blackened Western soul that this infernal war has exposed.”

@57

Interesting article. I think he gives too much credit to Trump for the hostage release but his closing paragraph deserves consideration.

“We need to ask why so many in our own societies took the side not of the oppressed Jewish hostages but of their oppressors. Why so many chose to make excuses for Hamas while demonising the nation it invaded. Today we can share in Israel’s joy. Tomorrow we must interrogate the blackened Western soul that this infernal war has exposed.”

@38, 39,

Unless you're like 15 or 16 years old, you no doubt remember people celebrating in the streets in the immediate aftermath of our unwelcome interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan as well. Can you do me a favor and remind me how those situations turned out?

@60

lied into a War
by an Evil Vice President
run Amok and usurping his
Power thru his 'Right of Possession!'

and those 'viscous' Dems offered
nutnyahoo huggzies & blanque
cheques, admitting their own
Powerlessness via very limp
acquiescence, appealing
to bibi for the Sanity he
Never possessed is it
Any wonder the Elec-
torate took a fucking
Pass on 'Democratic'
Fecklessness? though,
Not To Worry! they'll
Do it Again, in 2028!

Yippee!

mollifying 'the Middle'
whilst Pleasing their
Corporate Masters.

yeah.
That's
gonna work.

@59

"Tomorrow
we must interrogate
the blackened Western soul
that [these] infernal war[s] ha[ve] exposed.”

Bingo.

@54: Does your sentiment negate those of the Venezuelans? Removing dictators is a very messing business, will be removing Trump. Try looking at the situation from other perspectives and bloviate back with your findings.

@58 I get that it's easier to argue with nonsense strawmen but what I actually said was those 8 Dems should have not forfeited the leverage of the shutdown, which the majority of commenters and many other electeds agreed with even at the time. If the Dems had a minority leader with any spine at all instead of Schumer, who even many establishment figures called to be replaced in the wake of this capitulation, they likely could have kept their caucus in line. Overall the entire shutdown episode was an embarrassing failure and anyone who disagrees is either a rube or just an idiot. In your case I lean toward the latter.

Quite a comparable situation to when we took Noriega (on this very day!) in 1990, though thankfully much quicker and without American casualties. Personally, I'm generally opposed to the US going around the world changing other countries' governments, but former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz praised Trump's removal of Maduro, so I imagine the Democrat Party establishment response will probably end up being pretty similar.

For me, what I really can't support are the gun possession charges against Maduro - if any aspect of all this was "overboard" or a bit "too far", it was surely that.

@64 — here in the real world, the shutdown worsened the polling of Trump and the GOP and benefited the Democrats.

https://navigatorresearch.org/how-americans-views-of-the-shutdown-changed/

I understand that doesn’t fit your narrative so you have to do what you always do and try your hardest damage the standing of Dems to get more Republicans elected. Trumpers gonna Trump!

@66 tell all the people who can't afford health insurance anymore that it's ok, it was all worth it, the Dems got a polling bump! Just like after Roe got reversed, which you must also have considered a win.

Leave it to nekrasova to crawl out of the woodwork @65 with some well-honed MAGA concern trolling. Of course, the concern troll always has to preface their troll with the caveat that they're generally opposed to this or that Trumpian behavior by a president but... but... but in this case... And then of course they go on to deliberately misinterpret what Debbie Wasserman Schultz said, just like Fox News did in its online article with "At least one House Democrat is praising President Donald Trump's capture of Nicolás Maduro...."

Of course she wasn't in her carefully worded statement. I'll assume Fox News is not literally misquoting Wasserman Schultz, so I recommend people read the quotes for themselves:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-democrat-calls-trumps-maduro-capture-welcome-news-left-accuses-him-illegal-actions

Read what DWS actually said and then yes, try to understand that (A) Maduro is a bad guy who stole an election (you'd figure he'd be a role model for Trump in that respect) and (B) Wasserman Schultz has plenty of Venezuelan Americans in her district and has to tread carefully with their sensibilities.

Speaking of right-wing concern trolls, it's clear that thirteen12 is not a rube. He knows very well that Trump and the GOP were never-ever-ever going to cave on the shutdown. He knows very well the damage it would have done to the nation and the Democratic Party if the Democrats had continued the shutdown on behalf of the 8 million Americans who are losing their Obamacare subsidies.

So my advice to Bax is, I appreciate your expending your time and energy standing up for reality. Just keep in mind that these right-wing concern trolls are never arguing in good faith, and that they have time and energy that the rest of us don't. You do wonder if they come up with all these talking points themselves. (In thirteen12's case, probably yes.)

@68 I will never get tired of your bizarre conspiracy theory that I'm not just saying exactly what I think. Your reading of me is about as good as your analysis of Wasserman Schultz - she equivocates a little at the end by saying Congress should've been allowed to vote (a big YES, presumably), but she's sure to frontload it with "The capture of the brutal, illegitimate ruler of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, who oppressed Venezuela's people is welcome news for my friends and neighbors who fled his violent, lawless, and disastrous rule. However, cutting off the head of a snake is fruitless if it just regrows. Venezuelans deserve the promise of democracy and the rule of law, not a state of endless violence and spiraling disorder. My hope is it offers a passage to true democracy and liberation." Praise for Trump's removal of Maduro, as I said, but also saying the US must do far more: we need to commit to a full-scale campaign to to bring freedom and democracy to Venezuela. A blistering critique of US military action! Anyone expecting vociferous opposition from the Party is in for a big surprise.

I'll admit your sexy correspondent Nekrasova wasn't alive yet for Noriega, though, if anyone else wants to share memories from that time.

nekrasova, I don't know that anyone has the eye endurance to go through your lengthy paragraph @70, but you know very well that "Debbie Wasserman Schultz praised Trump's removal of Maduro" is a false statement. You're welcome produce hundreds more words spinning your way out of that one.

Quick question. There must have been dozens of statements from Democratic elected officials today about Trump's special military operation, and Debbie WS's was the most damaging gotcha quote you could come up with?! Really?! Why not go back to your trusted sources where you get your MAGA talking points and see if you can come up with something better?

@71 Grandma, the lengthy quote I provided is in your own link, so I'm not sure how it's too much to expect that to get read. If you think the former DNC Chair is some obscure figure I had to go to incredible effort to come up with, I don't know what to say. The giant checks the Trump campaign is cutting me to go into the Slog comment section and say I'm opposed to their military action just aren't enough anymore.

Looking forward to the hot new gameshow: America's Next Top Viceroy

nekrasova @72, you can call me names, and you can talk about yourself in creepy ways like "your sexy correspondent Nekrasova," but all that is a distraction from the two simple facts of your presence here:
A. You're a MAGA concern troll who is here to stump for Trump all while operating under the conceit that you're just some independent thinker.
B. You have willfully misrepresented Debbie Wasserman Schultz. I guess if life gives you lemons, you gotta spin some lemonade.

What sort of person has nothing better to do or say on their Saturday than go on a blog comment thread and share little bits of MAGA disinformation like "but former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz praised Trump's removal of Maduro"? Would we consider such a person a normal person operating out of genuine civic concern?

@71: Here's Debbie's statement:

"I am really glad that Maduro has been arrested, that he’s going to be held accountable for his crimes, which include crimes against humanity as well as narco-trafficking crimes, so I’m not shedding any tears that his reign of terror is over,” Wasserman Schultz said. “But to replace one unelected regime with another, which apparently Donald Trump has decided is him, is wildly inappropriate.”

So woke logic dictates that you can't remove evil unless you have something to replace it with. Got it.

from substack: Caitlin's Newsletter:

They Kidnapped Maduro Because The
World Is Ruled By Unaccountable Tyrants

Well, Trump finally did it. US special forces attacked Venezuela and abducted President Maduro from Caracas, reportedly killing at least 40 people in the process.

And now that it’s all over, the White House is getting a lot more honest about the real motives behind its actions. After all those months of babbling about fentanyl and “narcoterrorism” and freedom and democracy, the Trump administration has come right out and admitted that its regime change interventionism in Venezuela has always been a good old-fashioned oil grab.

Trump made it explicitly clear that this is going to be some sort of long-term US occupation project, contradicting early claims of his supporters who had defended the president’s actions in Venezuela as a brief in-and-out, one-and-done special ops intervention.

“We’re going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition,” Trump said. “So we don’t want to be involved with having somebody else get in.

['competition'?
we don't Want no
stupid 'competition.'

We don't Like 'competition.'

There AIN'T GONNA BE
No STUPID 'COMPETITION.'

that Oil (that's under THEIR
Soil)? That Shit IS ALL OURS!!!]

"And we have the same situation that we had for the last long period of years. So we are going to run the country until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”

[ah, yes
Just Like
Iraq! nice.]

--by Caitlin Johnstone

https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/they-kidnapped-maduro-because-the

“We’re not afraid of boots on the ground,” the president said. “And we have to have, we had boots on the ground last night at a very high level. Actually, we’re not afraid of it, we’re we don’t mind saying it, but we’re going to make sure that that country is run properly. We’re not doing this in vain.”

[run properly, by
BIG FUCKING OIL
reaping the Spoils
of Destroying OUR
fucking BIOSPHERE.]

You would think after all these incredibly honest admissions that this was a regime change operation aimed at controlling the resources of the nation with the largest proven oil reserves on the planet, people would get real and accept that they were lied to about the Trump administration’s real reasons for targeting Venezuela.

But I am still getting Trump supporters prattling on about drugs and terrorism and democracy in my social media replies defending my criticisms of his monstrous act of war.

Cadet Bonespurs: “We’re going to have our
very large United States oil companies,
the biggest anywhere in the world,
go in, spend billions of dollars,

[and likely receiving Enormous
TAX BREAKS for so
Doing]

fix the badly broken infrastructure,
the oil infrastructure, and start
making money for
the country..."

[& we the Peeps
Shan't see a FUCKING
DIME of these TENS OF BILLIONS]

"and we are ready to stage a second
and much larger attack if
we need to do so,”
Trump said.

[hey, mofos--
Weapons Mfgs
Gotta EAT, Too, same
as Worms, same as Vultures]

[Same as Oilmen.]

-by Caitlin Johnstone; January 4th,* 2026
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/they-kidnapped-maduro-because-the

*from the Land Downunder
where it's already
Tomorrow

@63 -- "Try looking at the situation
from other perspectives and blo-
viate back with your findings."

10-4, KkKoolie!
here's another
prospective:

"Larry Johnson today
suggesting the reason why
DC and the deep state going hard
now on Venezuela is because Trump gave
the green light to Netanyahu for an attack on Iran.

"Iran has promised to hit back harder if attacked again,
which likely means the Strait of Hormuz
will be shutdown. So - US needs
another source of oil.
Connect the dots."

--Jamenta; https://substack.com/profile/2425010-jamenta

the above from Caitlin's Newsletter on substack
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/they-kidnapped-maduro-because-the

@76: Seems rather convoluted, though most conspiracy theories are.

Another day, another action which shows how different a Harris presidency would've been from another Trump presidency, another refusal by progressives to admit just how much damage their obsession with Gaza (where? huh?) has caused the entire world...

give it a rest, wormmy:
you'll likely Never assuage
your 'conscience' for your role
/complicity in getting him elected
via your unhinged support for genocide.

nyt:
Trump Plunges the U.S. Into a New Era of Risk in Venezuela

President Trump opened a new chapter in American nation building as he declared that the United States had toppled Venezuela’s leader and would “run” the country for an indefinite period.

one comment on the article:

Every previous president
told us that taking over far weaker
countries like Afghanistan and Iran when we
installed the Shah there years ago would be a piece of cake.

That the people would fall in line and do our bidding.
Terrified [of] Americans. Didn’t quite work out
that way and after spending trillions
of dollars, we got nowhere.

And gave birth to insurgents and terrorists.

It’s funny. Turns out people don’t want
to be controlled by people like Trump.

And have their assets taken, impoverishing them.

Look at how much pain and suffering
the Palestinians and Ukrainians endure to
try and preserve their own sovereignty and dignity.

Make no mistake, Americans will get killed doing this.

And the price will be huge.
And , for me, this is all about oil.
Not corruption or drugs. Oil. Flood the American
market with oil and gas to endear Trump to Americans.

Rather than spending money
to convert energy to renewables
and getting away from oil, we are
going to spend even more to make
oil barons and people like Trump richer.

Not to mention
all the suffering and costs
associated with storms, wildfires,
and drought across the globe. And there
will be casualties and downstream consequences.

Reinforcing to the world how selfish, arrogant, and uncaring Americans are.

--Walking Man; Glenmont NY 

oodles: 
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/03/us/politics/trump-venezuela-oil-risks.html

@80: Rather reinforcing to the world how selfish, arrogant, and uncaring American libs and lefties are who wanted the suffering of Venezuelans to continue.

@60: So one should never battle against evil just because it might fail?

@82

stealing a sovereign nation's petroleum reserves
to further escalate a decimated biosphere
and enrich ones besties

is 'battling evil'?

maybe on
Uranus

@83: Ahem, buying oil from the Venezuelans is not stealing. The proceeds will rebuild their country.

the Dunning
/Krogers is
STRONG
in This
one!

it's Never
about Them
KkKoolie: it IS
about making the
Emperor More Wealthy

see: paragraph,
the First. and
Good Luck!

we'll Need it!

@81: No one “wanted their suffering to continue,” we just have no faith anything done by the current U.S. Administration will be done properly or well, and so this action will just create more suffering and misery than the amount of existing suffering and misery it supposedly was done to eliminate.

@86: Point well taken, but there is no clean way to remove a dictator and near impossible to do in a non-covert operation with the knowledge of Congressional leaders, unless it's a war resolution (which George W. Bush got for Iraq).

deposing
Maduro to
keep the Focus
off the Epstein Files:

he'll do ANYTHING
to Keep the Fuck
OUTTA PRISON

just like bibi
nutnyahoo.

@88: There's no crime warranting Donald Trump's imprisonment.

*no conviction/penalty I mean

@69 "Trump and the GOP were never-ever-ever going to cave on the shutdown"

If that's true then the Democrats were incredibly reckless and stupid to shut the government down at all. Whether it was never going to work, or it could have if Dems hadn't caved, the episode was an abject failure.

@91 -- another Feather in
the Wormtongue's Cap!

@89 any credibiltiy
you may've once
possessed?

can you Hear
that Sound?
(((CCCccc...

it's One of thedjt's
ten, Fifteen
TWENTY!

fucking Flushes.

adios,
Cred!

c u in the
Funnies!

@91, No shut-down has ever achieved the aims of the shut-down.

Somehow the Dems thought that if they did it, they would have different outcomes than the half-dozen shut-downs done by the Republicans before them.

The Dems had the hubris to think they could do it better than the inventors of the shut-down.

@90: “no conviction/penalty I mean”

As a proud New Yorker, I beg to differ:

“Defendant Information:
DONALD J. TRUMP
Palm Beach, Florida

“Convicted:

“Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree, a class E felony, 34 counts”

(https://manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-trial-conviction-of-donald-j-trump/)

“In New York, a Class E felony is the lowest felony level, carrying potential sentences from 1 to 4 years in prison, varying if violent or non-violent, with non-violent typically 1 to 3 years (or up to 1 1/3 years) …”

@91 -- "you shouldn't vote for Democrats because they are bad. As an example, the Democrats failed to prevent the GOP from reducing ACA (which was approved with solely Democratic votes) subsidies (which were approved with solely Democratic votes). These changes (which were approved with solely GOP votes) will increase health care costs for millions of Americans. It's critical that these subsidies (which were approved with solely Democratic votes) continue for people who need them, as the ACA (which was approved with solely Democratic votes) helps many people.

I don't understand why the Democrats (who I actively campaigned against) couldn't stop the GOP (who I actively campaigned for) from reducing these subsidies (which were approved with solely Democratic votes). The Democratic strategy here (which increased the visibility of the changes being made to the ACA as a result of GOP legislation) was a total failure (as the GOP and Trumps polling made a significant downturn due to the shutdown highlighting GOP changes to the ACA)."

As usual, phenomenal stuff from you. Just phenomenal. Never change.

@34: That Letitia James case is so weak that nobody prosecuted it until Litigious (mortgage fraud infected) Letitia (who always had it in for Donald) came along. Fines perhaps, prison no.

@81 -- "Rather reinforcing to the world how selfish, arrogant, and uncaring American libs and lefties are who wanted the suffering of Venezuelans to continue."

BINGO! WHY
do we selfish, arrogant, and
uncaring American libs and lefties
HATE FREEDOM!? AND LOVE THE SUFFERING!?

All 'The Suffering' is just
about to Commence,
Koolie (Courtesy of
YOUR HERO djt):

from Substack:
'Owen Jones Battlelines':

Donald Trump is going to annex Greenland.

And the European-American military alliance will be exposed as a farce.

Denmark has become justifiably alarmed
by a post yesterday from Katie Miller.
She’s a former administration official
turned podcaster - and, crucially,
married to Trump’s deputy chief
of staff Stephen Miller.

And, well, see it for yourself.

--by Owen Jones; January 4th, 2026

oodles:
https://www.owenjones.news/p/donald-trump-is-going-to-annex-greenland

well
thank
Gawd oh,
Canada!* is so
fucking CLOSE!

we can be back home
in Time for Luncheon!
Plus all that fine
Maple Syrup!

oh, AND
our WMD makers
and Mister Magoo, too
will have a Fucking Field Day

arming those 'clever Canadians'

to the Fucking Teeth!

can You say,

'Mass Shootings'?
how bout school
Shootings!? Look
OUT World -- Here
Comes Cadet Bonespurs!

eh, Hoser!?

*Venezuela.
Greenland.
CANADA!

and Why NOT!?

WHOtf's
Gonna
Stop
US?!

my Patriotism's off
the fucking Charts!
WORLD CONQUEST!

sorry, KkKoolie:

j/k