That is the magic of History...leaders are delusional when they need to be, and then, crowds fall into line behind the goofiest, most destructive programs. ‘On to Moscow,’ yell the soldiers...
For anyone who still believes the Make America Great Again hype here's some fast food for thought: The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the US infrastructure a C grade in 2025. Meanwhile, our esteemed leader responded to the press yesterday that the US was going to rebuild Venezuelan infrastructure. MOGA? Make others great again!
I Have a friend who owns a civil engineering company. The number of deficient bridges , it keeps going up. Point is there completely sound structurally. The greatest number of the insufficient bridges is simply that they've changed with requirements and the type of railings. Otherwise, completely safe. In the meantime, let's tell the government prepare them down and pay us to redesign the new ones. The society keeps redefining a proper safe bridge
The infrastructure here in the US is fine and dandy according to your friend. I guess I can rest assured that there are no problems with the electric grid, water systems and roads. Instead of designing Somali daycares we can begin rebuilding the infrastructure of Venezuela.
Any concern for "the electric grid" should only come from knowledgeable sources. Anyone still thumping the table for industrial scale solar and wind projects should be ignored on that basis alone.
Get on board with Gen 3 nuclear energy if you want to converse with serious people and, as you evolve your understanding, please contemplate the wasted time and money that this last bunch of DC based Lawyers, pretending to be energy experts, have wasted with their misguided "Green New Energy" claptrap.
I was reading through this article this morning. In 2012 - 2015 I ran a 34 person Project Management Organization (PMO) the “Northeast Grid Renewal” project. We replaced all of the conductor wire, substations and switching stations from around the GW bridge in Bergen county to Roseland and to Perth Amboy. A giant triangle. We tied into NY. We also raised many of the switching and substations up around 4’ from the revised 500 year flood maps that resulted from Hurricane Sandy. I do know a bit about the Grid and do have many contacts. What do you want to know? We added 300% carrying capacity to the T&D system and that was before anyone envisioned any AI need.
I don't want to know anything more. I just get a kick out of Trump saying we're going to fix the Venezuelan infrastructure. Especially after seeing that the national debt increased by more than two trillion dollars this year. Greatest economy ever! I'm a political atheist so I don't support either team.
Actually I worked with water production in a city of 150,000 and we have the most modern and safe water systems in the world. You believe too much of the hype you hear from MSM Cartero.
Bill has TDS (Along with a lot of you commentors). Maduro was an indicted dictator moving drugs into our country. He was taken into custody legally. The people of Venezuela will chose their new Government based on their last election that was stolen by Maduro and his predecessor.
Our energy companies will be given back their stolen properties and produce oil for themselves, the US, and our hemisphere. Good move by President Trump. MAGA
Kangaroo court? The judge in the trial was appointed by George Bush. Plus U.S. prosecutors officially named President Hernández as a target and co-conspirator (CC-4) in court filings as early as May 2019. Thus the political witch-hunt was conducted during Trump's first administration. He could have saved us a lot of money by cancelling the investigation . Check out this report from 2019 - https://insightcrime.org/news/criminal-allegations-unravel-honduras-president-crime-fighting-facade/
Biden had instituted a $25mm reward for Maduros capture, based on his narco-trafficking - but it was an empty threat. Obama had once made a stern statement about "Red Lines", not to be crossed in Syria. Turned out that that was an empty threat as well.
There is an old adage that states that "weakness invites aggression".
These repeated empty threats by empty suits in the highest office of the people's government have had a deleterious cost for the nation.
Trump, on the other hand, is a deadly serious man.
Those of us that have crisscrossed the globe and have been in some of the deadliest places know the mindset of our enemies. They despise weakness.
As Machiavelli once counseled the Medicis "it is better to be feared than loved".
The NYT gave my parakeet a case of the trots. The 2020 Southern District of NY, under Biden, had presented to the Grand Jury the evidence that resulted in Maduros indictment and then the Biden $25mm reward for his capture. But somehow you interpret this as a Trump bad. Your "Orange Man schtick is looking pretty good next to your red face!
I voted for Trump, but he will succeed in "his Venezuela venture" to about the same degree he "drained the swamp in 2016 to 2020". The real people still in charge in
Venezuela "today" are probably all those deportees that ICE has spent the
last 12 months sending back. "you just can't make this sh!t up". At this rate we are going end up with a Biden redux.
Patience....it is a military operation.....Judiciary corrupt, so can't bring swamp to DOJ for procecutions. More Americans need to see the light before Military tribunals are revealed. GITMO already working overtime. It's a lock, don't fret!
You know, I’m not an expert, I’m just a guy trying to figure out how the dumbest plan in the room keeps getting a budget and a standing ovation… but even I’m pretty sure kidnapping another country’s president is, technically, still illegal. Even in America. Especially in America. That’s not what we’re calling it now, right? Not invasion, not abduction, not kidnapping. Like Maduro was a missing poodle with a ransom note tied to his wife.
And the crowd loves it. They always do. Until the stock market crashes, the stimmies come out, QE spins up like a slot machine duct-taped to the Treasury, coins flying everywhere while everyone pretends this counts as a plan, and suddenly everyone’s asking how this happened. Like History snuck up behind them instead of mailing a calendar invite.
They say Maduro was transhipping cocaine. Transhipping? That’s a fun word. Sounds like something you do at the mall. Meanwhile obesity is killing three hundred thousand people a year, but nobody’s threatening military action against sofas. Probably because sofas don’t have oil. Here’s another fun word, “Narco-terrorism.” That’s a word you make up when the old lies are tired. It’s Weapons of Mass Destruction with a mustache and a nose full of cashews. You say it loud, you say it slow, and the current Administration nods like trained pigeons. Evidence? Evidence is for librarians, historians, and dead people.
Here is the evidence from Mr. Bonner, Thirty thousand dead from cocaine. One hundred seventy-eight thousand from booze. Three hundred thousand from obesity. But nobody’s bombing Cheesecake Factory. No drones over Margaritaville. No Special Forces rappelling into Golden Corral. Funny how the body count only matters when the victims can’t vote and the map looks stealable.
Greenland? Panama? Colombia? Mexico? At this point US foreign policy is just scrolling a map at 3 a.m. going, “You up?”
The crowds cheer because crowds don’t think, they moo. Crowds moo “On to Moscow” while packing swim trunks for winter.
Maybe you could rally some of those Antifa drones that, not too long ago, were burning down Tesla dealerships. Point them in the direction of Cheesecake Factory's and Golden Corrals. You know, get those blue-haired nose-ringed future-fearing elites off of their futons.
Bill, What is wrong with an Americas Policy or a revival of the Monroe Doctrine? The globalists have brainwashed Americans into believing that the Americas (from northern Canada down to the tip of southern Argentina & Chile) is unimportant. Of course, this is a lie. The Americas could very well sustain itself without trading with jihadi-run W. Europe, communist China, disorganized Russia, 17th Century Middle-East/Iran/India, etc. If this is not true, why is communist China so desperate to raid the Americas for resources? And it appears that your friend in Chile is all for an Americas Policy. And China needs Venezuelan oil, which it will purchase to bring free elections to Venezuelans. Now think about that irony. Does that upset you?
Now if the neocons talk Pres. Trump into getting more involved with Iran, such as the politically-destructive move of boots on the ground, then that would be very foolish, and opposed by a large majority of the American people. It would also increase antisemitism, so best that Pres. Trump leaves Israel to handle Iran.
You have many investments in the Americas. Now after Venezuela, if Pres. Trump can convince the Chinese-propped-up dictators in Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil to Do Business, Not War, then would that not be a positive for the Americas, and the U.S., which is part of the Americas? And for you? But you also have investments in Ireland and France, which is headed for a jihadi-run nightmare. So I guess you're conflicted. I notice that you have all this compassion for Palestinians, but you don't remotely live near the Muslim enclaves in Ireland and France.
I posted a bio about our family experience in Venezuela. As an addendum, let me point out that in recent years China had built a major shipping port facility right off the coast of Caraccas.
What then becomes the issue is their intent. Military or trade only? What is their role alongside VZ in support of Cuba?
The only missing piece of the Chinese (middle) finger puzzle then becomes fueling their ships. What role there for China? Their own engineers reworking what used to be PDVSA assets built by Americans? There's a lot more at stake here than currently being discussed.
Not the least of which is the implication for Chevron to be invited back into VZ to teach Chinese how to build modern refineries.
Remember, the Chinese are Iran's biggest customer for oil for good reason The Chinese don't have much in the way of FF resources but would be more than happy to camp out in our back yard and have American engineers give them this technology., as we had given them so much advanced technology over the years.
It's been a long slog of destructive assaults on freedom in America by the anti capitalists anti individualists since the Founding, but in my opinion the two wars that put the nails in the coffin were the Vietnam War and the War On Poverty. We've been divided and on a path of economic insolvency ever since.
Similar to Bidens support for Ukraine. The idea is to have a flow of money established that can be tapped. Then prevent any real progress by dictating the terms of engagement to always fall short of victory.
Some right, some wrong here Bill. I do think you'd be well advised to expand your reading to some independent sources of information. You seem to mostly read legacy media which is heavily influenced (controlled) by various intelligence services.
I like Bill for his writing skills but that’s not the same as approval of his content. Bill was one amongst many issuing dire warnings regarding Trumps tariffs. None of it came to pass. If you read my observations at that time (only a few months ago) I predicted the “nothing burger” that actually happened. History doesn’t necessarily repeat itself verbatim. As Twain opined, it just “rhymes”. The forces acting on events change and so do outcomes. As I have mentioned in the past, I have been consulting ENR magazine for decades as a prime source for Inflation. Here’s the latest; material costs which include a lot of imported equipment and basic commodities rose only 0.5% for the year. Labor costs - entirely domestic in origin - rose 3.6% for the year. What this tells me is that the Biden era “Green Energy” plan which drove energy prices sky high, and gave us an 8.56% inflation rate in 2022 is now pushing wages up. Energy inflation gets cooked into our entire economy. Dems (and Bill) were simply wrong. Our trading partners prioritized maintaining their access to our consumer markets by dropping various VAT and export fees. Anyone with a background in international procurement would instinctively know that this would be the preferred path - and it was. So now, on top of climate disaster and “Russian disinformation” and “Russian collusion” and all the other brain farts that have issued from the Left, I’m supposed to believe that “this time will be different”? That what Mandavi and his Marxist minions are saying in NYC right now. Frankly, I think they’re not just wrong but terminally myopic
Hussein didn't become another "Hitler" until the 1990s just like Noriega. There's a great picture of Donald Rumsfeld, who was at the time a special envoy of Reagan,in 1983, smiling and shaking Hussein's hand. That should go as a warning to all those who wish to align themselves with DC - today you may be our buddy, but tomorrow you may be just another Hitler.
After his invasion of Kuwait our relationship changed. That dumb-ass failed to do the math. He imposed himself in a manner that had implications for the worlds energy markets and thus, the world's economic system. Ultimately, a fatal mistake.
Whatever he was, he at least kept Iran in check and al Qaeda out of Iraq. The Iranians actually thought he had nuclear weapons.
Then cometh Bush and his Israeli First advisors: Saddam gone; Iran unleashed; Israel imperiled as never before; US loses men and materiel galore invading not one but two dirt pile countries neither a threat to us.
Now comet Trump, admirer of Putin.
More woe a-coming starting with the impending courts martial of a genuine America hero, Senator Mark Kelly, who simply stated a legal fact: US military personnel are obligated to comply only with orders they believe are lawful.
(The goal was to ensure no more Lt Calley's who instructed his troops to kill civilians residing in My Lai, Vietnam)
BS. The goal was to sow disarray amongst our troops. To try to get them to question the CIC. Kelly was out of line and seditiously so. He opposed dispatching NG into urban Blue cities to round up illegals. Real military never question the command structure, much less the CIC
Mei Lai and Calley as a rogue operator and probably one with "battle fatigue" had no connection to any command structure or, especially, the CIC.
All that's left, I suppose, is how to make some money off of what seems to be the Trump Trend: The USofA is coming to kick your ass and take names if you get on our bad side (and even getting on our bad side might not be required)!
I've heard it said, "the trend is your friend", so are 'Defense' stocks/funds/ETF's worth considering? It's clear 'defense' spending will be a priority.
Once again, we find our intrepid reporter, Bongo Bill, rummaging around in a dumpster and throwing out any tidbit of trash he finds at his readers assuming his newly created trash heap will somehow coalesce into a coherent whole. Not happening, Bongo.
Maybe i'm forgetting something. 911, Who's nothing impetus for the Iraq. It is peace , loving, terrorist suppressing saddam hussein's invasion and rape of the nation of kuwait. Remember that highway? Remember the dead babies, and staff in hospital wards discarded as Sadams terrorists looted the medical equipment.
Do you have any links to the hospital looting? I do remember that a young Kuwaiti woman in testified to that before Congress. However, later it was revealed that she was the daughter of a Kuwaiti embassy official and that she had been coached by a DC public relations and that she had been lying in order to get the US public to support an invasion of Iraq. But if Hussein was such a bad guy why was he an ally of the US in the 1980s?
If you question anything you get a label. Question the Ukraine war and your a communist lover pro Putin. Question vaccine mandates said safe and effective your anti science. Question the war in Palastine your antisemetic and like all pressitutes towing the line the labels have nothing to do regarding the questions. Are Americans that far removed? I sure hope not because if so, we are all f.....ing doomed.
That's why the CIA came up with the Conspiracy Theory label. I'm reading a book about Allen Dulles and after the Warren Commission Report our esteemed leaders and presstitutes decided to discredit anyone who questioned their findings.
Can Bill actually be advocating for continuing Biden's and the Dem's policies that were clearly destroying America? Will Trump's mostly work the way he says they will? For the sake of our wonderful Country, let us all hope and prey so. Bill is a very intelligent man, and 'if' he is largely correct about the results of what Trump has put into motion we will be almost as bad off as if Harris had won the '24 election. Okay, you folks with TDS make a worse case scenario than that! Trump may at least give America a slim fighting chance, but I now believe the DEBT will finish us off no matter what he can do. He and the Repubs, even if they wanted to do so, dare not reduce federal spending without being totally wiped out in the 2026 elections. And, we all saw over the past four years what that will lead to!
As far as Maduro is concerned he had openly, with the support of China, Russia, Iran, etc. declared a war on America in almost every way he possibly could, and Trump did the 100% correct thing to stop him. The truly sticky part comes now in how to assist Venezuela recover into a prospering and free Nation.
Bill's core observation - as I understand it - has been his stating that the US is now in a position of "inflate or die". A condition that has been cultivated over a number of past administrations debt accrual for wars and stillborn poverty programs as well. - and "death" becoming more probable as the debt grows and real wages continually flat line. As we gave away our manufacturing base and any potential for growth of wages. So here I will propose to Bill and to all Americans that now the question becomes "fight or flight".
Does a Paul Volker-esque abrupt shutdown of the printing presses make sense today? Or is there a better strategy? One more appropriate for where we find ourselves today. That is a subject matter I would like to see discussed.
I think most of us understand that the democrat opposition would love for Trump to get blamed for decades of borrowing. Wouldn't even care if the Yuan inherited the role of the $US for the world's economy - so long as they could blame Trump and then rationalize ushering in the new age of American Marxism as the solution for all of our woes.
This may actually be the best history lesson to indulge. The history of Marxist "economic success". You could publish it on the head of a pin.
Sure, he was a great guy Maduro. That's why 8 million people walked out of his country. Bill once again you complain about Trump and the empire going down but give no solutions what you would put in place.
You should run for President and then tells us your plans.
Sorry, I’m compelled to comment, not because I disagree. This essay should really martial the anti-BB forces. Methinks BB has a machine whereby he can lightly freeze any body of water, putting a thin gel on its surface where he can walk and fall into self-created frigid waters. 😎 The more the pundits declare “this action - Venezuela - is not nation building,” the more it seems to be. It does certainly stimulate the economy though.
Yeah, all those ships and the thousands of personnel are free and all his warmongering endears other countries’ people and leaders to our Netanyahu-inspired tactics and behavior.
Happy New Year!!....and before we read the re-written interpretation of history (even though we are all and each trying to make good financial decisions, politics has its influence on us) I invite you to read "Georges Sada who was one of Saddams top generals and foremost military advisors. A truth teller in a government that made the truth dangerous. A devout Christian in a Muslim country and a man who stood up for what was right - even at the risk of his own life" - personally flew five separate flights removing (in the middle of the night) the weapons which Saddam most certainly possessed - he plotted to destroy Israel and his aim was to overtake the Arab world. It is very important we do not repeat the lie. Maduro did not concede the last election and the rightful president is in hiding. Solzhenitsyn believed the Americans would come to his aid but they did not.
For anyone who still believes the Make America Great Again hype here's some fast food for thought: The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the US infrastructure a C grade in 2025. Meanwhile, our esteemed leader responded to the press yesterday that the US was going to rebuild Venezuelan infrastructure. MOGA? Make others great again!
I Have a friend who owns a civil engineering company. The number of deficient bridges , it keeps going up. Point is there completely sound structurally. The greatest number of the insufficient bridges is simply that they've changed with requirements and the type of railings. Otherwise, completely safe. In the meantime, let's tell the government prepare them down and pay us to redesign the new ones. The society keeps redefining a proper safe bridge
should be.
I've recently heard that they're gonna start designing somali daycares too.
The infrastructure here in the US is fine and dandy according to your friend. I guess I can rest assured that there are no problems with the electric grid, water systems and roads. Instead of designing Somali daycares we can begin rebuilding the infrastructure of Venezuela.
Any concern for "the electric grid" should only come from knowledgeable sources. Anyone still thumping the table for industrial scale solar and wind projects should be ignored on that basis alone.
Get on board with Gen 3 nuclear energy if you want to converse with serious people and, as you evolve your understanding, please contemplate the wasted time and money that this last bunch of DC based Lawyers, pretending to be energy experts, have wasted with their misguided "Green New Energy" claptrap.
Here's a headline from the radical lefties at Epoch Times :https://www.zerohedge.com/political/ai-expansion-highlights-dangers-americas-aging-power-grid. Do you have reliable sources to counteract this article?
I was reading through this article this morning. In 2012 - 2015 I ran a 34 person Project Management Organization (PMO) the “Northeast Grid Renewal” project. We replaced all of the conductor wire, substations and switching stations from around the GW bridge in Bergen county to Roseland and to Perth Amboy. A giant triangle. We tied into NY. We also raised many of the switching and substations up around 4’ from the revised 500 year flood maps that resulted from Hurricane Sandy. I do know a bit about the Grid and do have many contacts. What do you want to know? We added 300% carrying capacity to the T&D system and that was before anyone envisioned any AI need.
I don't want to know anything more. I just get a kick out of Trump saying we're going to fix the Venezuelan infrastructure. Especially after seeing that the national debt increased by more than two trillion dollars this year. Greatest economy ever! I'm a political atheist so I don't support either team.
Actually I worked with water production in a city of 150,000 and we have the most modern and safe water systems in the world. You believe too much of the hype you hear from MSM Cartero.
...I guess some people think progress is binary.
Last time I checked, the U.S. can do more than one construction project at a time...
Bill has TDS (Along with a lot of you commentors). Maduro was an indicted dictator moving drugs into our country. He was taken into custody legally. The people of Venezuela will chose their new Government based on their last election that was stolen by Maduro and his predecessor.
Our energy companies will be given back their stolen properties and produce oil for themselves, the US, and our hemisphere. Good move by President Trump. MAGA
lol.
Trump just pardoned a few months ago the former President of Honduras who imported 400 tons of cocaine into the US
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-12-26/trump-s-pardon-of-honduras-former-president-rewrites-a-landmark-us-drug-case
Once your in a cult it's hard to extricate yourself!
That’s FAKE NEWS! Honduras President was railroaded by kangaroo court. Lol back
Kangaroo court? The judge in the trial was appointed by George Bush. Plus U.S. prosecutors officially named President Hernández as a target and co-conspirator (CC-4) in court filings as early as May 2019. Thus the political witch-hunt was conducted during Trump's first administration. He could have saved us a lot of money by cancelling the investigation . Check out this report from 2019 - https://insightcrime.org/news/criminal-allegations-unravel-honduras-president-crime-fighting-facade/
Of course he was! SMH
Another dumb one, Dick!
Biden had instituted a $25mm reward for Maduros capture, based on his narco-trafficking - but it was an empty threat. Obama had once made a stern statement about "Red Lines", not to be crossed in Syria. Turned out that that was an empty threat as well.
There is an old adage that states that "weakness invites aggression".
These repeated empty threats by empty suits in the highest office of the people's government have had a deleterious cost for the nation.
Trump, on the other hand, is a deadly serious man.
Those of us that have crisscrossed the globe and have been in some of the deadliest places know the mindset of our enemies. They despise weakness.
As Machiavelli once counseled the Medicis "it is better to be feared than loved".
Turns out it was all BS Ed! If you got a problem with it take it up with them!
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/us/trump-venezuela-drug-cartel-de-los-soles.html?unlocked_article_code=1.CVA.NiQ4.LeLpr3eaVjX7&smid=nytcore-ios-share
The NYT gave my parakeet a case of the trots. The 2020 Southern District of NY, under Biden, had presented to the Grand Jury the evidence that resulted in Maduros indictment and then the Biden $25mm reward for his capture. But somehow you interpret this as a Trump bad. Your "Orange Man schtick is looking pretty good next to your red face!
Bye Ed!
Yeah Orange Man “real serious” lol
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-12-26/trump-s-pardon-of-honduras-former-president-rewrites-a-landmark-us-drug-case
Does your mom & dad know you’re posting on their account?
I voted for Trump, but he will succeed in "his Venezuela venture" to about the same degree he "drained the swamp in 2016 to 2020". The real people still in charge in
Venezuela "today" are probably all those deportees that ICE has spent the
last 12 months sending back. "you just can't make this sh!t up". At this rate we are going end up with a Biden redux.
Patience....it is a military operation.....Judiciary corrupt, so can't bring swamp to DOJ for procecutions. More Americans need to see the light before Military tribunals are revealed. GITMO already working overtime. It's a lock, don't fret!
Q
Huh? What say?
That's a dumb one Dick!
That’s Rick…… Dick
You know, I’m not an expert, I’m just a guy trying to figure out how the dumbest plan in the room keeps getting a budget and a standing ovation… but even I’m pretty sure kidnapping another country’s president is, technically, still illegal. Even in America. Especially in America. That’s not what we’re calling it now, right? Not invasion, not abduction, not kidnapping. Like Maduro was a missing poodle with a ransom note tied to his wife.
And the crowd loves it. They always do. Until the stock market crashes, the stimmies come out, QE spins up like a slot machine duct-taped to the Treasury, coins flying everywhere while everyone pretends this counts as a plan, and suddenly everyone’s asking how this happened. Like History snuck up behind them instead of mailing a calendar invite.
They say Maduro was transhipping cocaine. Transhipping? That’s a fun word. Sounds like something you do at the mall. Meanwhile obesity is killing three hundred thousand people a year, but nobody’s threatening military action against sofas. Probably because sofas don’t have oil. Here’s another fun word, “Narco-terrorism.” That’s a word you make up when the old lies are tired. It’s Weapons of Mass Destruction with a mustache and a nose full of cashews. You say it loud, you say it slow, and the current Administration nods like trained pigeons. Evidence? Evidence is for librarians, historians, and dead people.
Here is the evidence from Mr. Bonner, Thirty thousand dead from cocaine. One hundred seventy-eight thousand from booze. Three hundred thousand from obesity. But nobody’s bombing Cheesecake Factory. No drones over Margaritaville. No Special Forces rappelling into Golden Corral. Funny how the body count only matters when the victims can’t vote and the map looks stealable.
Greenland? Panama? Colombia? Mexico? At this point US foreign policy is just scrolling a map at 3 a.m. going, “You up?”
The crowds cheer because crowds don’t think, they moo. Crowds moo “On to Moscow” while packing swim trunks for winter.
Maybe you could rally some of those Antifa drones that, not too long ago, were burning down Tesla dealerships. Point them in the direction of Cheesecake Factory's and Golden Corrals. You know, get those blue-haired nose-ringed future-fearing elites off of their futons.
Bill, What is wrong with an Americas Policy or a revival of the Monroe Doctrine? The globalists have brainwashed Americans into believing that the Americas (from northern Canada down to the tip of southern Argentina & Chile) is unimportant. Of course, this is a lie. The Americas could very well sustain itself without trading with jihadi-run W. Europe, communist China, disorganized Russia, 17th Century Middle-East/Iran/India, etc. If this is not true, why is communist China so desperate to raid the Americas for resources? And it appears that your friend in Chile is all for an Americas Policy. And China needs Venezuelan oil, which it will purchase to bring free elections to Venezuelans. Now think about that irony. Does that upset you?
Now if the neocons talk Pres. Trump into getting more involved with Iran, such as the politically-destructive move of boots on the ground, then that would be very foolish, and opposed by a large majority of the American people. It would also increase antisemitism, so best that Pres. Trump leaves Israel to handle Iran.
You have many investments in the Americas. Now after Venezuela, if Pres. Trump can convince the Chinese-propped-up dictators in Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil to Do Business, Not War, then would that not be a positive for the Americas, and the U.S., which is part of the Americas? And for you? But you also have investments in Ireland and France, which is headed for a jihadi-run nightmare. So I guess you're conflicted. I notice that you have all this compassion for Palestinians, but you don't remotely live near the Muslim enclaves in Ireland and France.
I posted a bio about our family experience in Venezuela. As an addendum, let me point out that in recent years China had built a major shipping port facility right off the coast of Caraccas.
What then becomes the issue is their intent. Military or trade only? What is their role alongside VZ in support of Cuba?
The only missing piece of the Chinese (middle) finger puzzle then becomes fueling their ships. What role there for China? Their own engineers reworking what used to be PDVSA assets built by Americans? There's a lot more at stake here than currently being discussed.
Not the least of which is the implication for Chevron to be invited back into VZ to teach Chinese how to build modern refineries.
Remember, the Chinese are Iran's biggest customer for oil for good reason The Chinese don't have much in the way of FF resources but would be more than happy to camp out in our back yard and have American engineers give them this technology., as we had given them so much advanced technology over the years.
Jihadi run w Europe
Yes Bill..'”Right! Kill all the women and rape all the men.'” Just another example of what happens when democrats are in charge 🤔
Especially, and fitting when the crowed is a bunch of republinuts.
It's been a long slog of destructive assaults on freedom in America by the anti capitalists anti individualists since the Founding, but in my opinion the two wars that put the nails in the coffin were the Vietnam War and the War On Poverty. We've been divided and on a path of economic insolvency ever since.
100%
I'm\nGuessing , it was correct on this The war on poverty was designed to bankrupt no realistic end in sight.
Similar to Bidens support for Ukraine. The idea is to have a flow of money established that can be tapped. Then prevent any real progress by dictating the terms of engagement to always fall short of victory.
Some right, some wrong here Bill. I do think you'd be well advised to expand your reading to some independent sources of information. You seem to mostly read legacy media which is heavily influenced (controlled) by various intelligence services.
Bill knows his history, Ur a little off on a tangent on this one .
Bill is only citing history tangentially in this piece. The Napoleonic era invasion of Russia. Frankly, I fail to see the connection.
What the bulk of the article deals with is a prognostication as to what "may occur". That's not history - it's TDS inspired alarmist hysteria.
As Bill points out in many instances, in this article, how history repeats itself.
I like Bill for his writing skills but that’s not the same as approval of his content. Bill was one amongst many issuing dire warnings regarding Trumps tariffs. None of it came to pass. If you read my observations at that time (only a few months ago) I predicted the “nothing burger” that actually happened. History doesn’t necessarily repeat itself verbatim. As Twain opined, it just “rhymes”. The forces acting on events change and so do outcomes. As I have mentioned in the past, I have been consulting ENR magazine for decades as a prime source for Inflation. Here’s the latest; material costs which include a lot of imported equipment and basic commodities rose only 0.5% for the year. Labor costs - entirely domestic in origin - rose 3.6% for the year. What this tells me is that the Biden era “Green Energy” plan which drove energy prices sky high, and gave us an 8.56% inflation rate in 2022 is now pushing wages up. Energy inflation gets cooked into our entire economy. Dems (and Bill) were simply wrong. Our trading partners prioritized maintaining their access to our consumer markets by dropping various VAT and export fees. Anyone with a background in international procurement would instinctively know that this would be the preferred path - and it was. So now, on top of climate disaster and “Russian disinformation” and “Russian collusion” and all the other brain farts that have issued from the Left, I’m supposed to believe that “this time will be different”? That what Mandavi and his Marxist minions are saying in NYC right now. Frankly, I think they’re not just wrong but terminally myopic
Gee, Bill, I always thought Saddam Hussein was another Hitler - just like Putin.
Hussein didn't become another "Hitler" until the 1990s just like Noriega. There's a great picture of Donald Rumsfeld, who was at the time a special envoy of Reagan,in 1983, smiling and shaking Hussein's hand. That should go as a warning to all those who wish to align themselves with DC - today you may be our buddy, but tomorrow you may be just another Hitler.
After his invasion of Kuwait our relationship changed. That dumb-ass failed to do the math. He imposed himself in a manner that had implications for the worlds energy markets and thus, the world's economic system. Ultimately, a fatal mistake.
Whatever he was, he at least kept Iran in check and al Qaeda out of Iraq. The Iranians actually thought he had nuclear weapons.
Then cometh Bush and his Israeli First advisors: Saddam gone; Iran unleashed; Israel imperiled as never before; US loses men and materiel galore invading not one but two dirt pile countries neither a threat to us.
Now comet Trump, admirer of Putin.
More woe a-coming starting with the impending courts martial of a genuine America hero, Senator Mark Kelly, who simply stated a legal fact: US military personnel are obligated to comply only with orders they believe are lawful.
(The goal was to ensure no more Lt Calley's who instructed his troops to kill civilians residing in My Lai, Vietnam)
BS. The goal was to sow disarray amongst our troops. To try to get them to question the CIC. Kelly was out of line and seditiously so. He opposed dispatching NG into urban Blue cities to round up illegals. Real military never question the command structure, much less the CIC
Mei Lai and Calley as a rogue operator and probably one with "battle fatigue" had no connection to any command structure or, especially, the CIC.
All that's left, I suppose, is how to make some money off of what seems to be the Trump Trend: The USofA is coming to kick your ass and take names if you get on our bad side (and even getting on our bad side might not be required)!
I've heard it said, "the trend is your friend", so are 'Defense' stocks/funds/ETF's worth considering? It's clear 'defense' spending will be a priority.
Sacrilege! Not gold and cash?
Has been a priority ever since stocks of ordnance had been run down with Biden supplying Ukraine in a bid for supporting a perpetual land war.
Venezuela is another can of pennies to distract the media and masses from the rot at home.
Once again, we find our intrepid reporter, Bongo Bill, rummaging around in a dumpster and throwing out any tidbit of trash he finds at his readers assuming his newly created trash heap will somehow coalesce into a coherent whole. Not happening, Bongo.
It's happening, watch for it !
Maybe i'm forgetting something. 911, Who's nothing impetus for the Iraq. It is peace , loving, terrorist suppressing saddam hussein's invasion and rape of the nation of kuwait. Remember that highway? Remember the dead babies, and staff in hospital wards discarded as Sadams terrorists looted the medical equipment.
Do you have any links to the hospital looting? I do remember that a young Kuwaiti woman in testified to that before Congress. However, later it was revealed that she was the daughter of a Kuwaiti embassy official and that she had been coached by a DC public relations and that she had been lying in order to get the US public to support an invasion of Iraq. But if Hussein was such a bad guy why was he an ally of the US in the 1980s?
Indeed people have short memories.
If you question anything you get a label. Question the Ukraine war and your a communist lover pro Putin. Question vaccine mandates said safe and effective your anti science. Question the war in Palastine your antisemetic and like all pressitutes towing the line the labels have nothing to do regarding the questions. Are Americans that far removed? I sure hope not because if so, we are all f.....ing doomed.
That's why the CIA came up with the Conspiracy Theory label. I'm reading a book about Allen Dulles and after the Warren Commission Report our esteemed leaders and presstitutes decided to discredit anyone who questioned their findings.
Allen Dulles an interesting leech like so many, who created boogeymen to justify their extractive existence.
Can Bill actually be advocating for continuing Biden's and the Dem's policies that were clearly destroying America? Will Trump's mostly work the way he says they will? For the sake of our wonderful Country, let us all hope and prey so. Bill is a very intelligent man, and 'if' he is largely correct about the results of what Trump has put into motion we will be almost as bad off as if Harris had won the '24 election. Okay, you folks with TDS make a worse case scenario than that! Trump may at least give America a slim fighting chance, but I now believe the DEBT will finish us off no matter what he can do. He and the Repubs, even if they wanted to do so, dare not reduce federal spending without being totally wiped out in the 2026 elections. And, we all saw over the past four years what that will lead to!
As far as Maduro is concerned he had openly, with the support of China, Russia, Iran, etc. declared a war on America in almost every way he possibly could, and Trump did the 100% correct thing to stop him. The truly sticky part comes now in how to assist Venezuela recover into a prospering and free Nation.
Bill's core observation - as I understand it - has been his stating that the US is now in a position of "inflate or die". A condition that has been cultivated over a number of past administrations debt accrual for wars and stillborn poverty programs as well. - and "death" becoming more probable as the debt grows and real wages continually flat line. As we gave away our manufacturing base and any potential for growth of wages. So here I will propose to Bill and to all Americans that now the question becomes "fight or flight".
Does a Paul Volker-esque abrupt shutdown of the printing presses make sense today? Or is there a better strategy? One more appropriate for where we find ourselves today. That is a subject matter I would like to see discussed.
I think most of us understand that the democrat opposition would love for Trump to get blamed for decades of borrowing. Wouldn't even care if the Yuan inherited the role of the $US for the world's economy - so long as they could blame Trump and then rationalize ushering in the new age of American Marxism as the solution for all of our woes.
This may actually be the best history lesson to indulge. The history of Marxist "economic success". You could publish it on the head of a pin.
Sure, he was a great guy Maduro. That's why 8 million people walked out of his country. Bill once again you complain about Trump and the empire going down but give no solutions what you would put in place.
You should run for President and then tells us your plans.
Sorry, I’m compelled to comment, not because I disagree. This essay should really martial the anti-BB forces. Methinks BB has a machine whereby he can lightly freeze any body of water, putting a thin gel on its surface where he can walk and fall into self-created frigid waters. 😎 The more the pundits declare “this action - Venezuela - is not nation building,” the more it seems to be. It does certainly stimulate the economy though.
Yeah, all those ships and the thousands of personnel are free and all his warmongering endears other countries’ people and leaders to our Netanyahu-inspired tactics and behavior.
Happy New Year!!....and before we read the re-written interpretation of history (even though we are all and each trying to make good financial decisions, politics has its influence on us) I invite you to read "Georges Sada who was one of Saddams top generals and foremost military advisors. A truth teller in a government that made the truth dangerous. A devout Christian in a Muslim country and a man who stood up for what was right - even at the risk of his own life" - personally flew five separate flights removing (in the middle of the night) the weapons which Saddam most certainly possessed - he plotted to destroy Israel and his aim was to overtake the Arab world. It is very important we do not repeat the lie. Maduro did not concede the last election and the rightful president is in hiding. Solzhenitsyn believed the Americans would come to his aid but they did not.