In his speech to the nation on Wednesday night President Trump bragged that he has “stopped eight wars” (which is questionable since some of them are still fighting), so why is he now setting the stage for an open conflict with Venezuela, a small country that is now “completely surrounded by US warships?” That communist nation is one of several allied together in Latin America against US interests, including Brazil and Cuba and in concert with China. Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves (Saudi Arabia is second) which it harvests in relatively small quantities using infrastructure it nationalized from US oil companies starting in the 70s. Trump announced a blockade of the portion of Venezuelan oil shipments on the black market that end up in China, a major source of income to the regime, but Maduro says he will escort all future oil tankers with armed naval vessels. The US is also preparing to do air strikes on known drug processing facilities within the country. Both of these actions could escalate into a war that Trump clearly wants in order to oust Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolas Maduro, who has stayed in power during the two past elections by election fraud. While the majority of the Venezuelan people would love to see Maduro and his oppressive regime overthrown, it won’t be as easy as Trump hopes. Already Russia is propping up that country’s defenses and encouraging Maduro to fight instead of capitulate easily. Trump will have to decide soon if his desire to free up the oil, replace an oppressive regime and stop the drug flow from that country is worth the cost and the heavy criticism he will face for starting an open conflict against a weaker nation. To receive a free one-time copy of the Brief, along with options on how to subscribe, click on Request a sample on the left.
"The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil used to fund narco-terrorism in the region. We will find you, and we will stop you," Noem wrote in a post on X. In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec. 20, the US Coast Guard with the support of the Department of War apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela.
An attorney for Fulton County, Georgia admitted earlier this month that the county accepted roughly 315,000 early votes that were not lawfully certified in the 2020 presidential election.
According to a report from The Associated Press, about 30 tankers under US sanctions were navigating near Venezuela as of Wednesday, and sanctioned vessels carried about 18% of Venezuela’s international shipments this year.
Project Run Out the Clock
Ukraine is hailing a "new, unprecedented special operation" after a Russia-linked oil tanker was attacked off the coast of Libya. Needless to say these waters are very distant from anywhere Ukraine operates in the war with Moscow forces.
We’re under sustained attack
Only two presidents in recent decades have seen their party gain House seats in midterm elections.
The box is the highest level of warning.
It’s been days since the terror shooting, and authorities still haven’t publicly identified the shooter, even though he was captured on surveillance cameras outside the building. His face was covered, but the bigger issue is that there appears to be no footage of him inside the building at all.
Colorado officials say the pardon is invalid because Tina Peters was convicted under state law and the president may grant pardons only for federal offenses.
The bill, titled the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, passed by a 216-to-211 margin, with 207 Democrats voting against the bill. Four Republicans joined Democrats in opposition: Reps. Mike Lawler of New York, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Mike Kennedy of Utah, and Gabe Evans of Colorado.
“The illegitimate Maduro Regime is using Oil from these stolen Oil Fields to finance themselves, Drug Terrorism, Human Trafficking, Murder, and Kidnapping,” Trump said. “For the theft of our Assets, and many other reasons, including Terrorism, Drug Smuggling, and Human Trafficking, the Venezuelan Regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION. Therefore, today, I am ordering A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela.”
Following the shooting, there have been multiple dead-end leads involving so-called "persons of interest." Local police have released blurry footage of one individual, while one of the most heavily surveilled schools in the nation reportedly had no interior footage.
After spotting the aircraft, the rattled Falcon pilot informed the controller. "We just got that traffic. I don't know how we didn't get an RA for that," he said, referring to a Resolution Advisory, a command generated by an on-board Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). "They were really close -- and you turned us into them." The controller explained that the unidentified craft "keep[s] turning irregular."
The letter comes as Walz faces scrutiny for failing to stop the theft of more than $1 billion in COVID-19-related relief funds since 2020...
Still, the land issue remains a front and central problem. "The Americans are trying to find a compromise," Zelensky said just ahead of visiting the Netherlands on Tuesday. "They are proposing a ‘free economic zone' (in the Donbas). And I want to stress once again: a ‘free economic zone' does not mean under the control of the Russian Federation." One big breakthrough, from Kiev's point of view, is being reported, however. The NY Times writes that "The United States, Ukraine and Europe have agreed on a NATO-like guarantee for the future security of Ukraine, two U.S. officials said on Monday, as they tried to come up with a revised peace proposal that would deter future aggression and still satisfy Russia."
Jimmy Lai, a former newspaper publisher and one of Hong Kong’s most outspoken critics of China’s communist regime, has been convicted in a national security trial—a case that has drawn international scrutiny amid Hong Kong’s continued erosion of freedoms.
With over 95 percent of the votes counted, Kast, a member of the Republican Party of Chile, won more than 58 percent of the vote. His leading rival, Jeannette Jara, a member of the Communist Party of Chile, won 41 percent. It sets the stage for Chile’s most conservative government in decades.
So far the official death toll from the mass terror attack stands at 15 victims, including a 10-year-old girl.
Brown University has roughly one surveillance camera for every nine undergraduate students. Yet, despite that high level of surveillance, local authorities have not released a single clear, front-facing image of the shooter, who yelled "something unique" before killing two and injuring nine in a classroom that focused on the intersection of economics and Jewish studies.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it used a new underwater drone to strike Russia’s Novorossiysk naval base, sinking a Russian submarine in the process.
Shooting during a Hanukkah event at Bondi Beach Two gunmen opened fire, discharging dozens of rounds The two shooters are father and son A bystander intervened and disarmed one attacker 16 people confirmed dead including a 10-year-old kid (New South Wales Minister says via AFP) 38 others wounded, several critically (via AP) One suspect was killed; another is in critical condition Police are examining a possible IED connection Deadliest Australian shooting since 1996 24-year-old Naveed Akram was identified as one of the suspected gunmen
Dauda grew up in peace with Muslim friends and neighbors in the country’s fertile Middle Belt region. But everything began to change around 2001. “It was so strange to us, we never knew that, to see our people killed in a community where Muslims were a minority but well armed,” Dauda said of radicalized groups that began attacking Christians. “They drove us out.”
At the center of the scandal is a nonprofit-backed food program that prosecutors say was systematically exploited. One defendant alone billed the state for $47 million, claiming to have served 18 million meals at more than 30 locations - while failing to distribute a single meal, according to prosecutors.
Minns also did not explain how making guns even harder for law-abiding citizens to acquire for self-defense will enable law-abiding citizens to better defend themselves.
The U.S. Supreme Court today vacated a lower court decision against a group of Amish parents and school leaders who challenged the state of New York’s vaccine mandates for schools, ruling that the appeals court must reconsider the case. Today’s ruling could have implications for other states that don’t allow religious exemptions, attorneys said.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement on social media that the attack occurred in the central Syrian town of Palmyra as U.S. forces were conducting a key leader engagement in support of ongoing counter-ISIS and counterterrorism operations.
The university said a shelter-in-place order remains in effect.
County officials said that the records ’remain under seal' and would not be produced without a court order.
An FBI whistleblower has come forward with perspectives that raise concerns that the bureau has charged an innocent person with planting bombs at Democratic and Republican headquarters on Jan 5, 2021, according to Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie.