“I am shocked. Shocked to find that looting is going on here!”
1 Like
It’s disturbing how much unilateral power politicians have over the benefits/incomes that public servants have earned. I get where there’s a political process to decide the size of government and in salary negotiations. It seems wrong where politicians can go after an individual’s retirement pay based on a grudge.
3 Likes
Legally he can’t, and Kelly will almost surely win the resulting law suit. But part of the point is to intimidate people without the resources to sue.
5 Likes
81% or Republicans think this, and all other illegal actions by the government, is OK or better.
1 Like
1 Like
Can’t have anything displayed that publicly reminds everyone that tRump is a loser.
1 Like
Doubly bad, as the plaque itself had already wussied out by only having the Capitol Police defend “this symbol of democracy”.
The NYT suspects some of the captured Maduro photos are AI generated, but can’t actually tell anymore. We have a government that lies to us all the time, and now we can’t tell when they are lying.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/04/insider/how-the-times-assessed-maduro-photos.html
1 Like
There are some captured Maduro photos floating around with the google AI watermark. But I assume some are real.
Trump has also been pushing footage from 2024 as if it is current again.
Yes, he is captured. Just noting we are now beyond being able to fact-check the constant lies.
I suppose if we are listing milestones, might as well add:
Invading a foreign country, deposing the leader, creating a puppet, seizing its resources, and establishing indefinite military control… without a declaration of war, or any support or consent from Congress or any allies.
This isn’t any different from Reagan and Panama/Noriega is it?
1 Like
Except that it was Bush, no.
1 Like
The bottom picture was just after they were taken off a small helicopter. Like 10s later:
It’s similar for sure.
Both invasions occurred without consent from Congress/Allies.
Both are poorly justified. Though this one appears less justifiable.
Main difference is that Trump has openly stated he wants to establish a military presence to extract their oil.
He is also simultaneously threatening to conquer Greenland.
One major difference in the situations was that Panama officially declared war on the US and the US sent in thousands of ground troops. In contrast, the Venezuela attack was just an overnight special forces strike.
Biggest difference was that Noriega was once a US ally and CIA asset. Same with Saddam, as he was a US ally that we were happy to assist with chemical weapons.
Maduro, and Chavez before him, have not been compliant with US desires.
Also this kind of Special Military Operation seems like a realistic pretense for suspending elections in 2028.