ICE Kills Woman With Gunshots To The Face

The middle of the video shows the ICE thug not giving the woman time to do as ordered.  She was told to move her car and leave she was trying but got cut off by another auto, the ICE thug grabbed the door handle as she was starting to pull out and he already had his gun out.  He stuck the gun into the open window and shot her point blank.  He was in no danger as he was beside the car not in front of it.  When Ron saw the video as I was watching the show on the kitchen TV while doing dishes and he broke down in tears over it.  I was also very upset.  Gang thugs rampaging in cities with no restraint on what they are allowed to do.  These are gang members, militia members, and Jan 6th insurrectionists.  They are Stephen Millers brownshirts and Gestapo.  You know Miller the guy who said on national TV that the president must never be questioned and is a white supremacist Jewish Nazi.  He has claimed he doesn’t consider him self a Jew but I be the Nazi’s do.   Hugs

Here’s A Positive Thing We Can Do!

And, it involves Girl Scout cookies (😋)!

2026 Trans Girl Scouts To Order Cookies From!

This year, consider ordering your Girl Scout cookies from a trans girl scout to make their day!

Erin Reed

PLEASE buy from people who have not filled their goals!

Did you know that for a long time, Girl Scouts has openly included transgender and nonbinary individuals in its membership? I first learned of this five years ago while searching for a source for my annual Girl Scout cookie purchase. At that time, a wave of anti-trans sentiment was intensifying, prompting me to seek out transgender Girl Scouts from whom to order. One major benefit of their online ordering system is that it allows for trans girl scouts to sell their cookies with relative privacy and no contact between the scout and the purchaser when it comes to online orders.

My initial effort was a success, meeting the goals of every single scout featured on the page. The achievement felt wonderful during what seemed like one of the most severe legislative attacks on transgender children in recent memory. Unbeknownst to us, each subsequent year would bring greater such attacks. Since then, every year I’ve repeated this initiative, we’ve surpassed our previous sales, leading to coverage in multiple major media outlets. Last year, scouts on our list sold 50,000+ girl scout cookies!

It is that time of year again. Please consider choosing a trans girl scout to get your cookies from this year – the kids are under attack this year more than ever, so lets give them some joy. And for those of you who have a trans scout yourself, you can submit your scout’s info here.

Note: When purchasing from one of these trans girl scouts, please choose the “ship the cookies” option and not the “deliver the cookies” by hand option. And make sure to refresh the page, more will be added every few days. I will also be rearranging their order periodically.

With no further adieu, here are the scouts! Please check back as many more often request to be added after publication, and I will keep this post updated with any that join in:

Troop 65426:
Troop 65426 is an inclusive troop with two trans scouts and two nonbinary scouts (Junior and Cadette levels). They’re raising funds for an educational trip to Europe and to support a local agency that trains service dogs for people with autism, PTSD, and other disabilities. You can buy cookies from them here!

Yaz:
Yaz is working on their Silver Award by running self-defense classes for local LGBTQIA+ youth. They’re also creating an LGBTQIA+ Acceptance patch. You can buy cookies from them here!

Omri:
Omri is a Brownie Girl Scout who loves gymnastics, figure skating, and swimming. She also enjoys researching the Titanic and mythical creatures, and her troop is saving cookie money for a trip to Rollhouse! You can buy cookies from her here!

Wxy:
Wxy is an 11-year-old nonbinary scout who loves cats (current obsession: Garfield). They helped start a kids filmmaking program for their troop’s Bronze Award project so everyone can tell their story, and they’re fundraising to replace seven refrigerators at Camp Hoover. You can buy cookies from them here!

Phoenix:
Phoenix is a first-year Junior, and their troop is saving up for a big Savannah trip next year. They’re also excited for horseback riding, camping, Sea World, and service projects. You can buy cookies from them here!

Ace:
Ace is an out-and-proud nonbinary scout who’s active with their troop, service unit, and council, and also shows up for their local LGBTQ youth group. They’re currently working on their Silver Award and leadership hours, always ready to support their rainbow friends. You can buy cookies from them here!

(snip-the rest of the list for this post is on the page. Please go check it out, and at least simply send some good energy into the universe for these kiddos! And thanks!)

Again tRump lies this time about the profit / good about our illegal attack on Venezuela

Three hospitals are under investigation for providing gender-affirming care to trans youth

Jan 07, 2026 Orion Rummler

Minnesotans rally at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul in support of transgender youth on March 6, 2022. (Michael Siluk/UCG/Getty Images)

This story was originally reported by Orion Rummler of The 19th. Meet Orion and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.

Three children’s hospitals are under federal investigation for providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth, as the Trump administration continues to use all the levers it can to block such care. 

Health and Human Services (HHS) General Counsel Mike Stuart has referred three children’s hospitals to the agency’s inspector general’s office: Seattle Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and Children’s Minnesota. Gender-affirming care for trans youth is legal in all three states. But HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last month announced that medical practitioners who provide gender-affirming care to minors are out of compliance with federal health care standards. Now, the agency is enforcing that declaration. 

In response, Children’s Hospital Colorado has reportedly paused gender-affirming care for trans youth. Children’s Minnesota did not respond to a request for comment, and its website states that “at this time, our gender health services remain unchanged.” Seattle Children’s hospital also did not respond. 

Another hospital, Denver Health, has also paused gender-affirming care for trans youth since Kennedy’s declaration, although the hospital does not appear to be under investigation.

In earlier efforts by Trump administration officials to investigate and halt  gender-affirming care, both Children’s Hospital Colorado and Seattle Children’s Hospital successfully fought back against Justice Department subpoenas seeking trans patients’ medical information. 

The administration previously pressured hospitals to halt gender-affirming care by threatening to revoke federal funding, which worked in many cases, but these HHS investigationsmark a new escalation. They stem from Kennedy saying that, under his authority as health secretary, he can unilaterally decide that gender-affirming care — which  he calls “sex-rejecting procedures” — is not a safe and effective treatment for trans youth.

The response from states has been swift. Just before Christmas, 19 states — including Washington state, Colorado, and Minnesota — and Washington, D.C., sued Kennedy and the federal health agency over the announcement. The states’ lawsuit says the declaration harms their ability to administer state Medicaid plans in accordance with local laws protecting gender-affirming care.

“To me, the declaration is the extremely clear way they are trying to just shut down this care all across the country,” said Katie Keith, director of the center for health policy and the law at the O’Neill Institute at Georgetown Law. “They are trying to ban it nationwide for minors.” 

On X, Stuart said that all three hospitals were referred to the agency’s inspector general’s office for failing to meet “recognized standards of health care,” citing Kennedy’s declaration. 

The HHS has also proposed two new rules to restrict gender-affirming care for trans youth — both of which must still go through an approval process before they can be enforced. One rule would blockhospitals from receiving Medicare and Medicaid funds if they provide gender-affirming care to trans youth. That care includes hormone replacement therapy for adolescents and puberty blockers for young kids who are experiencing dysphoria — intense discomfort or anxiety felt when someone’s physical gender is out of sync with their identity. It also includes surgery, which is very rarely performed on minors. 

Another proposed rule would bar Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care for youth under 18 and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) from covering such care for youth under 19. This would disproportionately impact low-income trans youth.Technically, states could still use their own funds for coverage — but experts say that would be extremely burdensome and ultimately cause gaps in care. 

The American Academy of Pediatrics, an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians and other specialists, strongly condemned these proposals, saying that they misrepresent current medical consensus and create uncertainty for patients. 

“These rules are a baseless intrusion into the patient-physician relationship,” the group said in a statement. “Patients, their families, and their physicians — not politicians or government officials — should be the ones to make decisions together about what care is best for them.”The American Civil Liberties Union has said it will challenge these two restrictions in court if they are finalized.

Man Detained by ICE Found Dead, Hanging With Hands and Feet Tied—Attorney

The man was found with his hands and feet tied behind his back.  That is what hog tied means.  Please explain to me how he could then put a noose around his neck and hang himself?  And it has happened more than once according to this?  Some people are killing the detainees and ICE is covering up for it.  Hugs


https://www.newsweek.com/ice-detainee-death-family-questions-hands-feet-tied-11066992

Nov 18, 2025 at 04:04 PM EST

updated

Nov 20, 2025 at 07:16 AM EST

By 

Politics Reporter

A Chinese immigrant was found dead in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention, with his hands and feet tied behind him, an attorney has alleged.

Chaofeng Ge died four days after entering ICE custody in Pennsylvania on August 5, with an agency report stating he was found by agents with “a cloth ligature around his neck”.

After an autopsy report, his family is calling for more answers from the Department of Homeland Security.

“I am devasted by the loss of my brother and by the knowledge that he was suffering so greatly in that detention center,” Yanfeng Ge, the brother of Chaofeng, said in a statement shared with Newsweek. “He did not deserve to be treated that way. I want justice for my brother, answers as to how this could have happened, and accountability for those responsible for his death.”

Why It Matters

As detention numbers have spiked within ICE facilities under the Trump administration, deaths have also begun to rise. At least 15 immigrants died within ICE facilities, or while under their care, under this administration, compared to 12 for the entire fiscal year 2024. Advocacy groups and attorneys have repeatedly warned that ICE detention conditions are poor, but DHS has said otherwise.

Chaofeng Ge, 32, died while in ICE detention in Pennsylvania in August 2025. | Ge family handout

What To Know

Ge, 32, arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border near Tecate, California, on November 22, 2023, and was arrested by the Border Patrol for unlawful entry. Officers released him into the U.S. with a Notice to Appear for a hearing at a later date.

The records from ICE went quiet for over a year before agents encountered Ge in Lower Paxton Township, Pennsylvania, in January 2025. He was accused of accessing a device issued to another who did not authorize its use, conspiracy – accessing a device issued to another who did not authorize use, theft by deception—false impression, conspiracy—theft by deception, criminal use of a communication facility, and unlawful use of a computer—access to disrupt function.

Ge, who lived in Queens, New York, was convicted of the first two of these charges by the Court of Common Pleas in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, on July 31, and he was sentenced to six to 12 months with credit for time served, so he was released from local custody and ICE agents detained him.

ICE is required to issue reports on all deaths within its custody, including Ge’s. The report states he was assessed with the help of a Mandarin interpreter on August 1, when he denied any past medical or mental health issues.

Four days later, on August 5 at around 5:20 a.m., officers at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center (MVPC) in Philipsburg say they found him in a shower stall with the cloth around his neck. Despite getting him onto the ground and attempting lifesaving measures, including CPR, Ge was pronounced dead roughly 40 minutes later.

For Ge’s family, this does not answer all their questions, and they have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security in the Southern District of New York.

An autopsy report seen by Newsweek showed Ge was found tied with a bedsheet, with linens around his wrists and ankles in what the report described as a “hog-tied” position. The medical examiner noted that there had been other reported incidents of people who had hung themselves having done something similar, and that there were no obvious defense wounds.

These details were also laid out in the criminal complaint filed by the family’s attorney, David Rankin, a partner at Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP in New York City. The complaint alleges that ICE denied Ge the mental health care he needed and ignored requests for more details on the conditions at the MVPC.

Newsweek asked DHS whether Ge had been tied up and whether it was cooperating with the lawsuit filed in New York. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin did not answer these questions, but repeated similar messaging on detention deaths: that ICE takes each one seriously and thoroughly investigates them all.

What People Are Saying

David B. Rankin, the family’s attorney, in a statement to Newsweek: “It is truly mystifying how any detention facility can let someone leave their room, create three nooses and then hang themselves without anyone knowing. What’s worse is the lack of mental health care which could have prevented this tragedy. Mr. Ge’s death represents a totally failure on the part of the GeoGroup and the DHS.”

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, in a statement to Newsweek: “Chaofeng Ge passed away at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center. All in-custody deaths are tragic, taken seriously, and are thoroughly investigated by law enforcement. ICE takes its commitment to promoting safe, secure, humane environments for those in our custody very seriously.”

What’s Next

The lawsuit is asking for a judge to force DHS and ICE to release the details on Ge’s case.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988, text “988” to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.

Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 1-7-2026

Image from Assigned Male

Image from Assigned Male

Image from Assigned Male

 

 

 

#The Green Mile from What Are You Really Afraid Of?

#political correctness from What Are You Really Afraid Of?

 

#evolution from What Are You Really Afraid Of?

 

 

 

 

Mike Smith for 1/5/2026

image

 

John Deering for 1/6/2026

 

 

Joey Weatherford for 1/5/2026

 

 

 

 

image

image

 

 

 

 

 

 

#republican assholes from Rejecting Republicans

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image from The Iron Snowflake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Britt for 1/5/2026

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image from RECORD GUY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An elderly man speaks to a young boy.

“In my day, we had to use the C.I.A. to secretly finance military coups if we wanted to steal a country’s resources.”

 

imageMaduro was not in the US he was in a country that our law enforcement people had no authority to enforce laws.  This was the kidnapping of a foreign leader which is a war crime.  Hugs

 

 

 

 

 

Bart van Leeuwen PoliticalCartoons.com

 

 

 

 

 

Ingrid Rice British Columbia, Canada

 

Minnesota day care hoax is fueled by MAGA psychosexual weirdness

OK let’s discuss the hidden thing here.  A 20 plus year old claims he has never had sex.  I remember being a 16 yr old newly inducted into the SDA church.  Any touching of your male members was a huge sin they constantly harped on.  I did try, but seriously, a teen boy with my history but any normal teen boy is going to do the deed to get off.  And for many of them it leaves them with after crippling guilt of not pleasing their god who watched them do it.  God is a perv.   I can’t tell you the number of boys in that church school I hugged with and they cuddled with me … but we never had sex.  Two wanted to but if I got thrown out of the school I had to return to the brutal home I was using the school to escape from.  But the idea of just ignoring one’s hormone driven sex drive is not healthy and the religious leaders pushing that all did it when they were teens.  But the grift has to be kept up.  Hugs

https://www.salon.com/2026/01/05/minnesota-day-care-hoax-is-fueled-by-maga-psychosexual-weirdness/

The racism underlying MAGA’s latest obsession is intertwined with misogyny

Senior Writer
MAGA influencer Nick Shirley speaks during a roundtable discussion on antifa at the White House on Oct. 8, 2025. ( Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
MAGA influencer Nick Shirley speaks during a roundtable discussion on antifa at the White House on Oct. 8, 2025. ( Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Nick Shirley really wants the world to know that he’s never had sex. The YouTuber who moved from “prank” videos to the more lucrative world of creating MAGA disinformation apparently believes that sexual inexperience is an armor against accusations that he’s a liar. “I’m a virgin. I don’t have sex with random girls. You’re not gonna catch me on those sexual allegation charges,” he rambled on “PBD Podcast,” insisting that he is “religious” and doesn’t “have any vices.”
 

A deeper dig shows even more how ridiculous this situation is. Shirley has a history of dishonesty, which includes paying immigrant laborers to hold pro-Biden signs, clearly hoping voters would think they were self-motivated. In another video, he claimed Portland had “fallen” and “antifa” had taken “control of the city,” an unvarnished lie.

CNN verified that children were being dropped off at a day care center Shirley had targeted. The Minnesota Star Tribune visited the day cares in question and found, when they were allowed access, children playing and napping peacefully. CBS News reviewed security footage showing kids being dropped off at one targeted center. Others were indeed empty; they had gone out of business before Shirley filmed outside the buildings.

Shirley stands accused of lying for racist reasons, so his “but I’m a virgin” defense is irrational — at least on the surface. But it makes more sense, in a psychosexual way, in light of the right’s long-standing fear and loathing of day cares.

Shirley stands accused of lying for racist reasons, so his “but I’m a virgin” defense is irrational — at least on the surface. But it makes more sense, in a psychosexual way, in light of the right’s long-standing fear and loathing of day cares. After all, the scandal Shirley is exploiting isn’t really about day cares. It’s about a larger case in Minnesota of Feeding Our Future, a fraudulent food pantry that was run by Aimee Bock, a white woman who was convicted in March of cheating taxpayers out of nearly $250 million of pandemic funds. While Bock was the mastermind, other defendants in the case are Somali American. On Dec. 30, a federal judge cleared the way for the government to seize $5.2 million in assets from Bock.

If Shirley was only interested in building his hoax on that existing and very real case, he could have targeted anti-hunger charities for his fake sting. Instead, he went after day cares, which are only tangentially related insofar as they are — along with churches, mosques, schools and community centers — sites that were supposed to get assistance from the fraudsters but never received it.

These businesses were picked almost certainly because Shirley and his colleagues have tapped into the long-standing tendency of paranoid reactionaries to make day cares the subject of conspiracy theories. Along with birth control and abortion — whose providers are also smeared constantly with right-wing lies — day care is loathed on the right for allowing women to work instead of being financially dependent on a husband. In the 1980s, day care workers were accused of being Satanists. Now, during the MAGA era, the scapegoat for men’s fears of female independence has shifted from imaginary devil-worshippers to real immigrants. White women are implicitly accused of using immigrant labor as a cheat to avoid their god-given duty to quit work to stay home and raise babies. Vice President JD Vance has been especially loud with his belief that day care is pushing women away from their supposedly inherent desire to be housewives.


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Vance almost certainly doesn’t believe his own narrative. For one thing, it’s illogical to believe women would think, “Gosh, I want nothing more than to stay at home, but if there’s a day care down the street, I guess I have to use it.” His own wife has been outspoken about how much she loved working at her law firm that offered on-site childcare — and how much she misses it. But Vance has apparently decided that the bulk of support for his 2028 presidential bid will be rooted in the world of extremely online, sexually dysfunctional misogynists that love shady influencers like Shirley. The vice president’s messaging strategy has long been focused on this loose conglomerate known as the “manosphere”: bitter divorced men, “incels” (involuntarily celibates) and devotees of the “red pill,” an ideology that holds that dating and marriage aren’t about love but about men tricking or forcing women into submission.

The manosphere isn’t just deeply misogynist; it’s also incredibly racist. For liberals taking a cursory glance into that world, it can be very confusing how MAGA men can somehow blame immigrants for their own dating woes. But in the cesspool of incoherent resentment that Vance is clearly absorbing, the alleged evils of feminism and immigration are seen as part of a larger “woke” conspiracy against the white man. Before he died, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk often posted about how “who we actually can’t stand are angry, liberal, white women.” He would portray white women as idiots for not perceiving immigrants as a threat. “If woke is a mind virus,” he posted, “then white college indoctrinated women are the most susceptible hosts.” Influencers like LibsofTikTok hold up white women who resist mass deportations as selfish ninnies who just want to keep their babysitters.

Shirley has engaged in this rhetoric himself. “White liberal women tend to support the people that steal and rob from them,” he claimed in one post. Another was more ominous: “Liberal white womens [sic] logic and empathy will get them killed eventually.”

In this toxic stew of sexual resentment, misogyny and racism, it makes more sense that Shirley thinks his virginity is relevant. Anti-immigrant sentiment is woven into a larger MAGA narrative about expelling allegedly decadent and foreign influences. White male dominance, people like Shirley believe, can be restored by adhering to strict sexual and social mores prescribed by right-wing Christianity. Abstaining from sex until marriage is part of a larger program meant to produce male-dominated marriages,  where wives are too busy with large broods of white children to hold jobs. Attacking Black immigrants at a day care center has powerful symbolic resonance; it’s seen as an important front in a war both to make America whiter and to restore white women to a submissive role in the home.

The irony is that Shirley’s diatribe about his sexual status only underscores how much the attack on the day cares is not, contrary to his claims, driven by a nonpartisan, disinterested desire to end fraud. That much was always obvious. Shirley loves Donald Trump, who is himself a convicted fraudster who continues to use his office to enrich himself in blatantly corrupt ways. Shirley has followed the president’s lead — he, too, has a long history of posting racist vitriol about immigrants.

But bringing his sexuality and views on gender relations into the discussion — when no one else has done so — suggests that those issues aren’t far from mind, either. The fixation on “purity” is a common fascist obsession, manifesting in backwards fantasies of racial and sexual purity. None of this has any relation to the real world where people of all races and genders are just trying to do their jobs, raise their children and live their lives.

watch-woman-arrested-mid-interview-after-protesting-against-trumps-venezuela-strike/#:~:text=WATCH%3A%20Woman%20Arrested%20Mid%2DInterview%20After%20Protesting%20Against%20Trump%E2%80%99s%20Venezuela%20Strike

In some places in the US cops are maga not enforcers of public peace and honoring the constitution.   We have the right in the constitution to address the government with protests of their actions.  How far have we moved to a fascist nation where the rule of law is simply might be delivered by thugs makes right.   Agree with us or else … A horrible place we are in.  Hugs


 

WATCH: Woman Arrested Mid-Interview After Protesting Against Trump’s Venezuela Strike

WATCH: Woman Arrested Mid-Interview After Protesting Against Trump’s Venezuela Strike

https://youtu.be/dNxc8YKHlpw

A Michigan protest organizer was arrested on camera while giving a TV interview criticizing President Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela on Saturday.

Jessica Plichta, a 22-year-old preschool teacher and Grand Rapids Opponents of War organizer, was speaking to local ABC affiliate WZZM about a weekend protest condemning the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro when police officers moved in behind her and placed her in handcuffs. The patrol car had been visible in the background moments earlier, its presence unremarked upon until the interview abruptly ended.

“It’s not just a foreign issue, it’s our tax dollars that are being used to commit these war crimes,” Plichta said on camera. “It is also the duty of us, the people, to stand against the Trump regime, the Trump administration, that are committing crimes both here in the U.S. and against people in Venezuela.”

As she was escorted to the police vehicle, she could be heard saying, “I am not resisting arrest.”

The clip quickly went viral, with WZZM later reporting that police said Plichta was arrested for “obstructing a roadway and failure to obey a lawful command from a police officer.”

Prior to her detention, Plichta told WZZM she had recently returned from Venezuela, where she attended the People’s Assembly for Peace and Sovereignty of Our America summit.

A police department spokesperson issued the following statement to AlterNet following the arrest:

A group was marching in the roadway. Over 25 announcements were made from the PA system of a marked police cruiser for the group to leave the roadway and relocate their activities to the sidewalk. Blocking traffic in this manner is a direct violation of city and state law,” the spokesperson stated. “The group refused lawful orders to move this free speech event to the sidewalk and instead began blocking intersections until the march ended. Patrol officers consulted with their sergeant and the watch commander who informed the officers that if the individuals could be located, they were subject to arrest. The adult woman who was arrested was positively identified by officers, and the lawful arrest was made.

After her release from jail, Plichta spoke with Zeteo about the incident.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that as soon as I finished an interview speaking on Venezuela, I was arrested – the only person arrested out of 200 people,” she told the outlet.

Watch above via WZZM.

Trump says the U.S. government may reimburse oil companies for rebuilding Venezuela’s infrastructure

No healthcare subsidies, no money to feed poor people or kids who need government help to have lunch.  As a kid often the only meal I got was lunch at school.   No one monitored if I paid or not I was given food to eat like every other kid.   In Jr / Senior high school, say from 13 to 18 again my only meal was lunch or snacks at school.  But yes the tRump admin was cutting every safety net program and even halting child care so it hurts Walz, and stopping FEMA funds to states run by democrats among other cuts to already congress approved funding.   All illegally I will add but the republicans in congress are too scared of tRump to object to his being a tyrant.   But we have plenty of money for companies and businesses to extract oil.   

On The Majority Report I am listening to an oil person saying that the price of oil has fallen below $50 a barrel because of a glut on the market, and that Venezuelan oil is “sour oil” meaning it is hard to refine.  He says that to make a profit on that prices have to be over $80 dollars a barrel.   Which means this demented daydream of Rubio’s and Miller’s is not about oil so much as territorial control over other countries and Rubio has long wanted Cuba to fall to the US so his parent’s lands and money can be claimed from the rightful owners of it now.   Rubio’s family fled Cuba as refugees and lost all their holdings in Cuba, he has made a career of wanting it all back and toppling Castro.  But … well Rubio and the neocons claim that if we can make Venzualia fall into line then all the other Latin American countries will fall in line also and Cuba’s government will be destroyed.  Just like if we take out Saddam Hussein then the entire Middle East will embrace democracy.   Same story different location.   And it is all lies.  Just an excuse to use the US military might and have a reason to deny any public relief or safety nets at home.   Hugs


https://www.nbcnews.com/business/energy/trump-venezuela-oil-companies-reimburse-rcna252434

Big oil firms will either “get reimbursed by us or through revenue,” Trump told NBC News in an exclusive interview.

President Donald Trump said he believes the U.S. oil industry could get expanded operations in Venezuela “up and running” in fewer than 18 months.

“I think we can do it in less time than that, but it’ll be a lot of money,” Trump told NBC News in an interview Monday.

“A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent, and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us or through revenue,” he said.

Whether the U.S. government ultimately agrees to reimburse the oil industry’s costs in Venezuela, or alternatively, decides that future revenue is sufficient repayment, will likely be a key factor for the oil companies as they consider their options.

Trump declined to say how much money he believes it would cost companies to repair and upgrade Venezuela’s aging oil infrastructure.

“It’ll be a very substantial amount of money will be spent” by the oil companies, Trump said. “But they’ll do very well.”

“And the country will do well,” he added.

Despite Trump’s optimism, oil companies have appeared skeptical of quickly entering, expanding or investing in Venezuela. A history of state asset seizures, the ongoing U.S. sanctions and the latest political instability all feed into this caution.

Trump said he believed that tapping Venezuela’s oil reserves is “going to reduce oil prices.”

Gas prices are already at multiyear lows. The average retail gas price on Monday was $2.81, according to AAA. That’s the lowest since March 2021.

“Having a Venezuela that’s an oil producer is good for the United States because it keeps the price of oil down,” Trump also added.

While lower oil prices could make gas cheaper at the pump, it would likely also mean lower revenues for the same big oil companies that Trump is counting on to bankroll the rebuilding of Venezuela’s oil industry to the tune of billions of dollars in foreign investment.

Asked if the administration had briefed any oil companies ahead of Saturday’s military operation to capture deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, Trump said, “No. But we’ve been talking to the concept of, ‘what if we did it?'”

“The oil companies were absolutely aware that we were thinking about doing something,” Trump said. “But we didn’t tell them we were going to do it.”

Trump told NBC News it was “too soon” to say whether he had personally spoken to top executives at America’s three largest oil producers, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips.

“I speak to everybody,” he said.

ConocoPhillips declined to comment Monday on Trump’s plans for Venezuela’s oil reserves. Chevron told NBC News it does not comment “on commercial matters or speculate on future investments.” Exxon did not immediately respond to questions.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright plans to meet with executives from Exxon and ConocoPhillips this week about Venezuela’s oil industry, Bloomberg News reported Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Wright will be a point person for the Trump administration’s broader campaign to rebuild Venezuela’s oil infrastructure, a White House official said Monday.

The Trump administration has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. oil industry is eager to return to Venezuela, nearly two decades after the country last nationalized billions of dollars’ worth of oil company assets.

“They want to go in so badly,” Trump told reporters Sunday evening.

Despite Venezuela’s massive reserves of crude oil, large U.S. oil firms have a good reason to pause before committing to expand operations in Venezuela.

In the 1970s, the Venezuelan government nationalized energy assets there, including those owned by Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips. In the years since, the companies have tried unsuccessfully to recover billions of dollars.

In 2006 and 2007, the Venezuelan government nationalized even more assets. Then-President Hugo Chávez allowed foreign oil firms to remain, but on less favorable terms, leading to the full departure of Exxon and Conoco.

Chevron, however accepted the terms and remains to this day, thanks in large part to a limited waiver exempting it from U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan oil.

Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods recently expressed caution about re-entering Venezuela.

“We’ve been expropriated from Venezuela two different times,” he told Bloomberg News in November, replying to a question about whether Exxon would be interested in Venezuela’s oil or gas. “We’d have to see what the economics look like.”

Political cartoons / memes / and news I want to share. 1-6-2026

Image from Assigned Male

Image from Assigned Male

Image from Assigned Male

 

 

 

#Samwise Gamgee from What Are You Really Afraid Of?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#ManChildTrump from What Are You Really Afraid Of?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#DOGE from Progressive Power

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#public libraries from Library Journal

 

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The progressive comic about Trump's idiot voters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image from What Are You Really Afraid Of?

 

#cat from Catasters

 

 

 

Image from Making Donald Drumpf Again

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Al Goodwyn for 1/5/2026

 

 

 

 

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A curtained off section of a larger room is NOT a SCIF. The incompetence of this administration knows no bounds.

And the fact that X is pulled up on the screen behind them is just…embarrassing.

Who thought this was a good photo to release?

Looks like Pete Hegseth is either checking the online cocktail menu or lurking for exes on Facebook. Both can be true.

 

#politics from Cartoon Politics

 

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