MORE INFO ON WHAT ICE AGENTS CAN AND CANNOT DO TO A U.S. CITIZEN:

 

Here’s what’s legally significant:

ICE agents do not have general police powers over U.S. citizens. They are empowered to enforce immigration law, not to stop, detain, or command citizens in ordinary public life without clear justification. 

To order someone to exit their vehicle, there must be lawful authority, like a warrant, probable cause of a crime, or exigent circumstances. None of that has been publicly shown in this case.

Simply approaching a citizen because you don’t like what they’re doing does not make it lawful enforcement. Routine traffic stops and detentions are not within the regular scope of ICE’s authority unless tied to a valid federal enforcement action. 

The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable seizures. Blocking someone’s movement, trying to take control of their car, or forcing them out, all without legal basis, in itself is unconstitutional. Which is exactly what happened here.

Renee Good should have never been placed in that position. Her constitutional rights were being violated from the very start of the interaction.

And then there’s the use of deadly force.

Even if there were lawful grounds to detain her (which there were not), deadly force is only justified when there is an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm, not merely discomfort, disruption, or annoyance.

Multiple videos and analysts have noted that when shots were fired, Renee’s vehicle was moving away or not posing a clear, unavoidable threat that would justify killing her. 

Saying “she was disobeying orders” doesn’t suddenly make an order constitutional. Unlawful orders are still unlawful. And saying a federal agent can do whatever they want because of their badge undermines the entire structure of constitutional protections we all depend on.

This incident isn’t just about one tragic death. It’s about what our Constitution means when federal agents confront civilians, and whether those agents will be held to the same legal standards as everyone else.

We deserve transparency, independent investigation, and accountability… not spin, not narratives crafted to justify what looks like an unlawful and unconstitutional use of force.

Renee Good should still be alive today. The bigger picture is why a federal agency was even engaging her in the first place, and how easily basic constitutional rights can be cast aside if we don’t demand better.

ALL A COUNTRY NEEDS TO SLOW-WALK INTO FASCISM ARE MILLIONS WHO WELCOME THE BOOT IN THE FACE

 

Many of those who welcome the boot comment at the Geeez blog:

1. geeez2014 says:

   January 13, 2026 at 10:36 am

   REALLY horrid news is that lawyers at our DoJ are quitting because our gov’t isn’t going to investigate the agent who killed Renee Good…

   This is NOT GOOD. WHAT a bonus for the Democrats….the MSM will LOVE this. 

   Like
2. Ed Bonderenka says:

   January 13, 2026 at 11:52 am

   “REALLY horrid news is that lawyers at our DoJ are quitting because our gov’t isn’t going to investigate the agent who killed Renee Good…”

   Best news I’ve heard all day. The equivalent of self-deportation.
   New headline: “Swamp quits DOJ”.

The two commenters on the Mother Ship blog are positively giddy to know that there will be no investigation to find the facts about how and why an unarmed American woman was executed on an American street by a masked US ICE agent, who walked away from the crime scene after calling the dead woman a "fucking bitch."

  

Another ICE agent told a doctor on the scene, who volunteered medical help for the woman, to leave, when the doctor told the agent again that he was a doctor, the agent replied, "I don't care."

The DoJ is breaking with its own policies by not opening an investigation into why and how Renee Good was killed. Several DoJ lawyers quit, rather than be part of this cover-up.

The Captain of the Mother Ship and her sailors are happy with this, as were the "Good Germans" when their leaders told them to look the other way when their countrymen and women were being beaten in the streets and loaded onto railroad cars.

History has shown us time and time again what happens when we look the other way.

CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN THIS:

 

The comment below this breaking news came from one of P.E.'s valued commenters:

 

BREAKING:  Right now, today, this is happening in Minneapolis:

There are multiple reports and videos today, Monday, January 12, 2026, of ICE agents engaging in aggressive enforcement actions in Minneapolis, including going door-to-door and using force to enter residences. 

ICE agents are generally not allowed by law to enter private homes without a judicial warrant signed by a judge or without your consent, as administrative warrants (signed by ICE) do not authorize home entry; agents must present a valid judicial warrant for private areas like homes, or face exigent circumstances (emergencies), consent, or specific exceptions (like public areas of businesses/churches), but they cannot use ruses to trick you into opening the door. 

Federal agents in Minneapolis, as part of a large-scale immigration enforcement operation, have been captured on video ramming and forcing entry into homes without judicial warrants. 

Key Details Forced Entry: Federal agents used a battering ram to break down at least one door on Sunday, January 11, and video of similar incidents has emerged. 

Warrant Type: The documents federal agents used to make arrests were immigration warrants, signed by an immigration officer, which do not legally authorize forced entry into a private residence without the occupant's permission.

Possumlady:

"I talked to one of my sisters living in a Minneapolis suburb last night. Her voice was cracking saying how absolutely horrible it is right now in the Twin Cities. They are literally going door to door, sometimes knocking, sometimes breaking down the doors. She told me of newscasters telling people how to behave if they break down and enter your home. So many businesses have closed. One city councilmember told of going to his favorite independent coffee place to find no one there with the doors wide open. It was obvious that ICE had been there and taken away all the workers. He called police to at least close up and secure the cafe. There was video shown of ICE tackling a teenage boy in a Target. He was screaming he was a U.S. citizen and had papers in his pocket. That didn't matter, they just cuffed him and hauled him away (need to make those quotas, dontcha know). He was screaming for someone to call his mom. They then release these shaken, frightened U.S. citizens, no charges against them, with no way to get back home or call for help." 

And this:

Hey -FJ!  This 17-year-old American citizen didn't poke the bear. Trump's goons kidnapped him off an American street and terrorized him.

“One of ours; all of yours.” — Noem

 

I just read this on Facebook, posted by a man I’ve been blogging friends with for 20 years.

*****************************************************

"Here's where we are: An ICE agent shot and killed a 37 year old white US citizen with no criminal record. Hardly the worst of the worst. Not a gang member. Not an illegal.

 ICE is only in Minnesota because the state didn't vote for Trump. The vice president claims the agent has absolute immunity, and the federal government is shutting state law enforcement out of any investigation. The head of DHS and the president clearly lied about the entire incident, one saying that the agents were "stuck in the snow" (they weren't) when the woman attacked them with her car (she didn't) and the other saying she ran over the agent (she didn't) and the agent was recovering in the hospital (he wasn't.)

 This escalated to MAGA (the "don't tread on me" gang) proclaiming that the woman deserved it for disobeying orders. Obey a government order (from a masked man with no jurisdiction or authority over US citizens) or be shot in the face. Stay home and don't make trouble or be executed in the street.

 And now Kristi Noem, the head of Homeland Security (same position that Heinrich Himmler held,) has escalated even further.

 "Oppose us and we will kill you. Then we will kill your wife. We will kill your children. We will kill your dog. We will kill everyone you have ever known. We will wipe you from the earth."

What do YOU think "one of ours, all of yours" means.

 And the maga idiots cheer. Even the 37 year old white ones who live in states that didn't vote for Trump."l

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

FROM RACHEL HURLEY ON FACEBOOK

 

In 2013, the federal government commissioned an independent review of its own border agents. The Police Executive Research Forum examined 67 use-of-force incidents that resulted in 19 deaths. What they found was that agents were deliberately stepping in front of moving vehicles to manufacture justification for shooting the drivers.

Read that again. 

Federal law enforcement officers were intentionally creating the conditions that would allow them to kill people.

The PERF report didn’t mince words. It noted agents “intentionally put themselves into the exit path of the vehicle, thereby exposing themselves to additional risk and creating justification for the use of deadly force.” 

In plain English: they’d stand where the car was going, then claim self-defense when they pulled the trigger.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection tried to bury it. When Congress asked for the report, they got a summary with the vehicle-positioning findings conveniently omitted. It took a leak to the Los Angeles Times and an ACLU lawsuit to pry the full document loose. By May 2014, under enormous pressure, CBP finally released it publicly.

The agency also issued new guidelines. Agents should not use their body to block a vehicle’s path. They should not shoot at fleeing vehicles unless occupants pose an imminent lethal threat other than the vehicle itself. The policy was explicit: move out of the fucking way.

Now - pay attention to this part.

The Department of Homeland Security has had an official use-of-force policy on the books since 2018. Policy Statement 044-05, signed by the Acting Deputy Secretary, establishes department-wide standards. 

It requires force to be “objectively reasonable based on the facts and circumstances.” It cites the Supreme Court cases that set the legal standard. It looks professional and thorough on paper.

But I guess paper doesn’t change institutional culture. Training manuals don’t override what agents learned on the job a decade ago. And the people who were active agents during the period when stepping-in-front-of-vehicles was standard practice didn’t just disappear. They got promoted. They became instructors. They trained the next generation.

How long has Jonathan Ross - the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Good - been working for Border Patrol and ICE?

Since 2007.

Oh. And the Department of Justice policy is even clearer. 

Firearms may not be discharged at a moving vehicle unless no other objectively reasonable means of defense exists - “which includes moving out of the path of the vehicle.” That’s the actual language. 

Moving out of the way is supposed to be the first option, not the last.

So when a federal agent positions himself in front of a car, pulls out his phone to record with one hand, draws his weapon with the other, and then fires - the question isn’t just whether he feared for his life. The question is why he was standing there in the first place.

Former ICE officials have been refreshingly honest in background quotes to reporters this week. “Why did you put yourself in front of the car? You’re staging the scene.” “At a certain point, you need to understand not to put yourself in these positions.” One veteran agent told CBS News he’d been conducting stops for 25 years and never, ever wanted to be intentionally in front of the vehicle.

Because that’s not tactics. That’s manufacturing a pretext.

The PERF report was supposed to fix this. The policy updates were supposed to change behavior. But here we are, twelve years later, watching video that looks exactly like what the independent reviewers described: an agent positioning himself to create the justification, then using it.

The agency’s own policy says force must be objectively reasonable. The DOJ policy says moving out of the way should be the first option. The 2014 guidelines explicitly told agents not to block vehicles with their bodies.

None of that matters if the people enforcing the policy are the same people who learned the old playbook.

The infrastructure for accountability doesn’t work when the FBI takes sole control of investigations and excludes state authorities. It doesn’t work when federal immunity shields agents from local prosecution. It doesn’t work when the same agency investigates itself.

What we’re watching isn’t a rogue agent or a tragic split-second decision. What we’re watching is a system designed to produce exactly this outcome - and documented evidence that the government knew about the problem over a decade ago.

They commissioned a report. They buried the report. They got caught. They changed the policy on paper. And twelve years later, the playbook is still running.

Here are all of the likely laws Jonathan Ross broke:

Most likely chargeable offenses:

 1. Third-Degree Murder (Minn. Stat. § 609.195)

 2. Second-Degree Manslaughter (Minn. Stat. § 609.205)

 3. Failure to Render Aid to Shooting Victim (Minn. Stat. § 609.662)

 4. Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law (18 U.S.C. § 242)

Additional potential charges depending on investigation:

5. First-Degree Manslaughter (Minn. Stat. § 609.20)

6. Evidence tampering (leaving scene with weapon)

7. Obstruction charges if coordination to block investigation is proven

#ratcclips

Nicholas Kristof:

 

Nicholas Kristof 

There have been a couple more developments in the case of Renee Good, shot dead by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.

First, a new video has been released showing the perspective of the ICE officer who shot Good. Administration officials seem to think it's exculpatory, but to me it's the opposite.  The officer walks around the car, and Renee Good greets him cheerfully and says, twice, "I'm not mad at you." Her demeanor is friendly, not that of a person who poses a threat. Then the officer walks around the front of the car.

She is clearly visible turning the steering wheel to the right, away from the ICE officer, and she starts to drive off. There is no thump or movement that indicates that he was hit. But he fires three times in quick succession and then -- with her perhaps already dead -- he appears to say, "Fucking bitch."

In other words, nothing in any of the videos indicates that Good is a crazed leftist or has any intention to harm anyone. She seems to be trying to leave the scene. It is the ICE officer who seems menacing and out of control.

The other development is that we've learned more about both Good and her killer. The ICE officer was apparently once injured when a vehicle dragged him about 100 yards, and that obviously may have made him particularly sensitive to vehicular threats. Then again, that obviously cannot excuse an execution on the street.

As for Good, what we learn is the opposite of the "crazed leftist" narrative presented by Kristi Noem and by Vice President Vance. Good had just dropped off her child at school. She reportedly is a Christian, a poet and the widow of an Air Force veteran, now married to a woman. She is a US citizen and does not appear to have any history of violence or to have been anything but a model citizen.

I'd also note that the Trump administration claims that it was necessary to send in ICE officers to protect US citizens. But the only killing of a US citizen in Minneapolis so far in 2026 was not by an undocumented immigrant but by an ICE officer.

I understand that law enforcement officers feel under threat and make difficult life-and-death decisions. But that is not a license to execute a friendly driver as she leaves the scene of a confrontation. And it is outrageous that ICE refused to allow a man identified as a doctor to try to treat Good at the scene. I am particularly troubled by the way the administration has lied about this case from the beginning, presenting this as self-defense from a crazed leftist, defaming Good as well as killing her. I've spent a lot of time covering dictatorships, and that is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. It's what I expect in Iran or Venezuela, not in the US.

I have no confidence in the ability of the feds to investigate the case, so I hope the Minnesota prosecutors will pursue the case (even though the feds have withheld evidence so far) and take it to a grand jury if appropriate. I don't want to prejudge the evidence here, but we need to protect citizens and we can't grant impunity to federal officers who shoot drivers in the head as they try to leave.

Thoughts?

Trump says only his “own morality” limits his power

BREAKING: “I DON’T NEED INTERNATIONAL LAW” — Trump says only his “own morality” limits his power as America reacts with horror. 

In a jaw-dropping interview that sounded less like a democratic leader and more like a comic-book supervillain monologue, Donald Trump declared that the only thing restraining his power is “my own morality.” 

Not the Constitution. Not Congress. Not international law.

Just Donald Trump. 

Asked by The New York Times whether there were limits on his authority to strike, invade, or coerce other nations, Trump didn’t hesitate: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” --Occupy Democrats

*******************

This "morality" Trump claims to live by is what he has lived his entire life by:  The morality of a man who is a liar, cheat, fraudster, convicted felon, adjudicated sexual assaulter/rapist, a man known for cheating people who've worked for him out of money he's owed them; a man who scammed people who signed up for his Trump University; a serial adulterer who cheated on all his wives, who even cheated on his mistresses, and a man who talked about his own daughter's voluptuous figure and said if she wasn't his daughter, he'd be dating her!

A man who for decades partied and was close friends with Epstein and Maxwell who trafficked young girls to rich and powerful men for sex and who raped those children themselves. Trump knew what Epstein and Maxwell were up to, and did nothing. Trump even mitigated Maxwell's 20-year prison sentence by transferring her to a "club fed," where she gets massages and special meals. No pedophile in America was ever treated this way. Ever.

That's the Trump "morality" we now live under; That's what Trump wants us to trust.

RENEE NICOLE GOOD

From Title 1, U.S. DOJ Policy on Use of Force: “Firearms may not be discharged solely to disable moving vehicles. Specifically, firearms may not be discharged at a moving vehicle unless: (1) a person in the vehicle is threatening the officer or another person with deadly force by means other than the vehicle; or (2) the vehicle is operated in a manner that threatens to cause death or serious physical injury … and no other objectively reasonable means of defense appear to exist, which includes moving out of the path of the vehicle.” Also, placing oneself in the path of a moving vehicle constitutes officer-created jeopardy and undermines any claim that deadly force was necessary.From Title 1, U.S. DOJ Policy on Use of Force: “Firearms may not be discharged solely to disable moving vehicles. Specifically, firearms may not be discharged at a moving vehicle unless: (1) a person in the vehicle is threatening the officer or another person with deadly force by means other than the vehicle; or (2) the vehicle is operated in a manner that threatens to cause death or serious physical injury … and no other objectively reasonable means of defense appear to exist, which includes moving out of the path of the vehicle.” Also, placing oneself in the path of a moving vehicle constitutes officer-created jeopardy and undermines any claim that deadly force was necessary.

All Americans should be sickened by what happened to Renee Nicole Good yesterday in Minneapolis. ICE agents escalated a situation, and an American woman was shot dead on an American street.

From the information I've read, the ICE shooter left the scene of the killing, which, I believe, is also a crime.

I will not publish any comments that blame Ms. Good for her murder. 

I've watched the videos of the killing. Noem's and Trump's statements are inexcusable lies about what happened.

From "The Other 98%":

"Protests are erupting across America because Renee Nicole Good — a 37-year-old mom, a poet and writer — was murdered by ICE in Minneapolis, and the administration is blatantly lying about what happened. People have seen the video. They know the truth. And they’re refusing to let it be buried. 

 On Wednesday, during a sweeping ICE operation forced into a residential neighborhood, an officer fired into Good’s car and killed her.  

 Within hours, the Trump administration locked into a familiar script. They claimed “self-defense.” They said she tried to run officers over. They blamed “agitators.” They demanded the public stand down and trust them. 

But the video tells a different story. Everyone has seen it. 

The footage shows ICE agents swarming a stopped SUV, grabbing the door handle, shouting conflicting commands, escalating a situation that didn’t need escalation. As the car begins to move away, an officer fires multiple shots. There’s no mob. No charging vehicle. No imminent threat that justifies a bullet to the head. 

 And that’s why the lies are collapsing in real time."

 

BREAKING

BREAKING: The Netherlands just CANCELLED cooperation with the US, and BLASTED Trump for his crimes. Enjoy every word:

The Netherlands announced it is halting cooperation with U.S. counter-drug missions after American forces killed more than 100 people in attacks on boats accused of smuggling drugs.

This was not a quiet policy tweak. It was an unprecedented public rebuke of Trump and his administration's crimes.

Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans made it clear that Dutch forces will only operate inside their own territorial waters and will no longer join U.S. high-seas missions tied to Operation Southern Spear.

His words were BRUTAL.

“We have worked together with the Americans on counter-narcotics for many years, but in a different way,” Brekelmans said. “When we see drug smuggling, we try to arrest and prosecute those responsible. Not by shooting ships.”

Brekelmans went further, saying the Netherlands will not provide ships, helicopters, facilities, or support if Washington asks for help with Southern Spear. “The method and the operation the United States is carrying out now, they are really doing that themselves,” he said. “We are not participating in that.”

Dutch officials confirmed their naval station ship is now being used only for monitoring regional security, not for U.S.-led drug missions. Any counter-drug support will be limited strictly to Dutch territorial waters.

This public break comes as outrage grows over Trump’s decision to use military force to seize Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, an escalation condemned internationally as a violation of sovereignty and international law. Brekelmans warned that rising tensions threaten regional stability, airspace, and security even if there is no immediate military threat to the Dutch Caribbean.

Every Western nation is finding a way to abandon Trump. Even the UK reportedly suspended intelligence sharing after the U.S. began launching lethal strikes on boats in the Caribbean.

This is what Trump’s authoritarian foreign policy looks like in practice: allies refusing to participate, democratic governments drawing lines in public, and the United States isolated because its president prefers violence over law.

he Netherlands didn’t whisper this. They said it out loud. And Trump has never looked weaker.

THANK YOU to The Netherlands, for standing up to our pathetic thug president.

WILL TRUMP DRAG THE US INTO A WAR WITH EUROPE?

From MeidasTouch: 

Read this joint statement by France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the Kingdom of Denmark on Greenland: "Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland."

 

Ex-NATO General stuns MAGA world by calling on Europe to wage war against the United States if Trump seizes Greenland.

 

Did anyone think that in their lifetime they'd read these words: "Europe to wage war against the United States?"

Trump/Project 2025 did this.

BREAKING: Ex-NATO General stuns MAGA world by calling on Europe to wage war against the United States if Trump seizes Greenland.

The formerly unthinkable is now being said out loud by European allies in reaction to Donald Trump’s illegal kidnapping of a sovereign nation’s president and his obvious designs on taking Greenland from Denmark.

A former top NATO commander, Lt. Gen. Michel Yakovleff of France, has delivered a stunning warning to the world: If Donald Trump moves to seize Greenland, Europe must be ready to fight back—even against the United States.

Yakovleff, who spent decades at NATO’s highest military levels, didn’t mince words. If Trump threatens European sovereignty, he says, Europe must be prepared to defend itself—even if that means a historic rupture with Washington. “If Trump moves on Greenland, Europeans must be ready to fight the U.S.,” he said flatly. This isn’t posture nor bluster. Those are fighting words.

This is what Trump’s America has become: so reckless, so imperial, so hostile to allies that a retired NATO general is openly discussing a “divorce” from the United States and the end of NATO itself.

Yakovleff warned that Trump’s bullying rhetoric and open threats against Greenland— a territory that's part of Denmark, a NATO ally — are incompatible with any alliance based on mutual defense and respect. If Trump treats allies like conquered territory, Yakovleff argues, Europe must respond by protecting its own sovereignty, even if it means expelling U.S. forces from key bases like Ramstein and Naples.

Let’s examine what this really means: Trump’s behavior is now so destabilizing that serious European leaders are contemplating kicking the U.S. military out of Europe.

This isn’t happening in a vacuum. Yakovleff previously went viral for saying what many world leaders quietly believe: that Trump “works for Putin,” or at minimum advances Vladimir Putin’s interests by undermining NATO, weakening Ukraine, and sowing chaos among democratic allies. Whether through incompetence, ego, or something darker, Trump is doing exactly what the Kremlin wants: breaking the Western alliance from the inside. And now, the consequences are coming into focus.

Yakovleff is clear-eyed about the imbalance of power — Europe doesn’t want war with the U.S. But he’s even clearer about the stakes. If America abandons the rules-based order and starts threatening allies with military force, then NATO, by definition, is already dead.

This is the cost of Trump’s authoritarian fantasy politics: allies preparing for confrontation, alliances collapsing, and America transformed from the leader of the free world into a global threat that even its closest partners must plan to resist.

Trump promised “America First.” What he’s delivering is America Alone—and feared.

HE'S JUST GETTING STARTED

 

From Conservative publication, "The New Republic:"

Trump Goes on Wild Spree of Threats Against Rest of the World 

 Donald Trump warned that Venezuela is just the start. 

"It seems that attacking Venezuela was just the beginning for President Donald Trump. Speaking to reporters on Air Force One Sunday, Trump couldn’t stop musing about ordering more large-scale military strikes on various countries—including some U.S. allies—following America’s military operation to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro."

************************

Trump made threats against Columbia, Cuba, Mexico, a second attack against Venezuela unless it bowed to his commands, and Greenland, again!

Trump Could Destroy NATO With This One Move 

Danish P.M. Warns Donald Trump’s obsession with Greenland is on track to wreck the world order.

"President Donald Trump’s imperialist warpath may be about to destroy NATO. 

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen warned Monday that Trump was on course to uproot the 77-year-old defense alliance between the United States and its allies in Europe. 'I believe one should take the American president seriously when he says that he wants Greenland,' Frederiksen said in an interview. 'But I will also make it clear that if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops, including NATO and thus the security that has been established since the end of the Second World War.' 

Frederiksen’s attempt to raise the stakes of a potential invasion comes as the imperialist fanatics in the Trump administration—emboldened by its large-scale military operation over the weekend to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro—have turned their attention back to Trump’s holy grail: Greenland. 

When asked by a reporter Sunday whether he had plans to take action on Greenland, Trump laughed. 'We’ll worry about Greenland in two months,' he said."

Stephen Miller Asserts U.S. Has Right to Take Greenland 

In a CNN interview, the Trump aide also echoed the president’s intent to run Venezuela as he laid out a case for the United States to control weaker states by flexing its military might.

What do P.E. readers think about America under Trump stating that we can control or take over any country we choose for our "security?"  

*******************

January 6, 2021:  NEVER FORGET WHAT THE CONVICTED FELON DID TO AMERICA THAT DAY.

TRUMP JUST REPOSTED THIS ON HIS TRUTH SOCIAL ACCOUNT:

 

Trump degrades and debases America every day:

"Is this real?"

 

Trump made a comment over the weekend that stunned political observers and experts alike, and had some asking, "Is this real?" Trump's comment shouldn't have stunned anyone, let alone someone who claims to be a political observer or an expert. 

The president on Saturday was discussing his administration's successful mission to capture the leader of Venezuela, as well as his wife, when Trump made the remark. "All the way back it dated to the Monroe Doctrines. And the Monroe Doctrine is a big deal. But we've superseded it by a lot. By a real lot," Trump said. "They now call it the Donroe Document. I don't know. It's Monroe Doctrine. We sort of forgot about it."

(In a non-parody timeline, this would be a typo, but no, this is exactly what he said--he can't even keep "doctrine" and "document" straight for three sentences in a row, because big words are hard.)

Fiona Hill testified SIX YEARS AGO that Trump and Putin were cooking up a scheme along the lines of the Monroe Doctrine, that Donald was obsessed with it, and that they planned to do a swap of Venezuela for Ukraine, with Putin withdrawing support from Venezuela, so Trump could take it, in return for Trump withdrawing US support from Ukraine, so Russia could have it. 

So, those "political observers" and "experts" either totally disregarded her words or wrote them off as unimportant and forgot them. Some experts. 

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

My wish for the New Year:

May the broken be healed

May the sick be restored

May happiness return to those in despair

May the lonely be loved

May the hungry be fed

And may our world find its way to peace.

Trump says "U.S. will run Venezuela."

 

Can someone explain how the U.S. can bomb a sovereign country and kidnap its president, then announce to the world that the U.S. will now "run" the country?

We know Maduro is a bad guy, but so is Putin; so is Kim Jong Un, so is the Supreme Leader of Iran.

Will we now announce to the world that America will bomb those countries, kidnap their leaders, and then "run" their countries?

U.S. strikes on Venezuela spark alarm across Latin America and beyond 

Other regional powers, including Chile and Mexico, echoed strong condemnation. 

Mexico called the strikes a violation of the U.N. Charter and urged an immediate halt to acts of aggression. 

In a Fox News interview on Saturday, President Trump said Mexico was run by drug cartels and he said quote "something is gonna have to be done with Mexico."

PS. Trump pardoned the Honduran president who exported 400 tons of cocaine to the U.S. He has pardoned other drug dealers as well.

I don't think his illegal invasion of Venezuela and takeover of that country is about drugs.

Venezuela is not a major source of drugs like Trump claims — 12:12 p.m. Associated Press 

 Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that boats have been carrying drugs into the U.S. from Venezuela. But in fact Venezuela is not a major source of drugs.

Maggie Haberman, White House reporter:  Asked who’s running Venezuela, Trump said “a group” and immediately turned to the oil industry. He said oil companies would be paying to rebuild the infrastructure. 

 Maggie Haberman,White House reporter:  “We’re not afraid of boots on the ground if we have to have” them, Trump said. This is the opposite of what his administration has repeatedly said its posture is. 

 Zolan Kanno-Youngs, White House reporter:   As he justifies the military operation in Venezuela, Trump argued that Maduro sent members of Tren de Aragua to the United States to terrorize American communities. 

David E. Sanger, White House reporter: Trump’s own intelligence community earlier this year undercut that claim, finding that the gang was not controlled by the Venezuelan government. “We are going to run the country right,″ Trump said as he turned to oil. “It’s going to make a lot of money.” 

Trump said Venezuelan leaders must comply with the United States or else. “All political and military figures must realize that what happened to Maduro can happen to them,” he said.

THE POTUS WHO'S BEEN BEGGING FOR A NOBEL PEACE PRIZE JUST BOMBED VENEZUELA AND KIDNAPPED ITS PRESIDENT -- ALL BY BREAKING US AND INTERNATIONAL LAWS.

 

From "The Other 98%":

"The U.S. just invaded Venezuela, bombed its capital, and seized its president — and they’re pretending this is normal. In the early hours of January 3, 2026, the United States launched coordinated military strikes across Venezuela, including in Caracas and surrounding regions. President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were reportedly captured and flown out of the country by U.S. forces, according to President Trump. 

This wasn’t a “limited action” or some kind of border enforcement — this was a military invasion.

Explosions were heard throughout the Venezuelan capital and at key military installations. Smoke was seen rising from air bases and strategic sites. Venezuela’s government immediately declared a state of emergency and condemned the attacks as “military aggression” that strikes at the very heart of its sovereignty. 

Trump’s own announcement on social media claimed the United States had “successfully carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela and its leader,” with details to come at a later press conference. 

The operation was described as involving elite U.S. forces — including Delta Force — signaling this was not a quick raid on a criminal lab or a synchronized DOJ action, but a planned military assault. 

Let’s strip away the euphemisms: this is invasion, not enforcement. There was no imminent threat to American soil that justified the use of force under international law. 

The U.N. Charter’s Article 2(4) clearly forbids the use of force against another state’s territorial integrity or political independence unless it’s self-defense or authorized by the Security Council. There’s no evidence either condition applied here — and global reactions reflect the shock and outrage.

The administration’s own allies in Congress are already questioning the constitutional basis for this war and pointing out that they were lied to about regime change not being the agenda. 

Make no mistake: the narrative that this was about “drug trafficking” or “narco-terrorism” was always a pretext. Trump’s government had been building up military presence in the Caribbean for months under what’s been called Operation Southern Spear, deploying aircraft carriers, troops, and designating Venezuelan institutions and gang networks as terrorist entities — a setup that conveniently paves the way for overt military intervention. 

Venezuela sits on some of the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and its economic and geopolitical position has long made it a target of U.S. political and economic pressure. 

This isn’t a secret — it’s been openly debated and speculated on by Venezuelan officials who say the U.S. wants control of their resources under the guise of law enforcement and “democracy promotion.” 

Now the gloves are off. A sitting president has been removed by force. A foreign government has been targeted without international sanction. A region already weary of U.S. intervention is watching this unfold with justified fear. 

This isn’t a “surgical strike,” it’s a regime change operation that tramples on international law, sets a dangerous precedent, and undermines every multilateral institution that’s supposed to prevent exactly this kind of brazen imperialism.

We should not — we cannot — sit silent while the U.S. rewrites the rules of global engagement by bombing, kidnapping, and exporting its political will. Sovereignty, justice, and international norms matter — and it’s time we demand accountability for a foreign policy that just crossed every line in the book."

Jim Wright:

"Kidnapping a foreign leader is illegal under international law -- well, unless you're Russia that is. And seriously? We're going to try Maduro on drug trafficking charges? What if he's convicted? Trump pardons convicted drug traffickers, doesn't he? So long as Maduro's friends make a substantial "donation," I guess. We've gone from piracy on the high seas to invasion and kidnapping and show trials. If I was Greenland, and Canada, I'd be real damn worried about now. 

 Oh, hope you filled up the car yesterday, because nothing Wall Street and the Oil Industry love more than bombing an oil producing country. They're changing the prices in front of every gas station in America right now. 

 Trump is a criminal. He might as well be Putin. Trump is the mad murderous tyrant who should be on trial here in the US."

Maybe because I was born and raised in Boston..

 

and heard the name Kennedy since I was a child that another unbearable tragedy, the death of John F. Kennedy's granddaughter, Tatiana, so moved me.

I followed John F. Kennedy's exciting candidacy for the presidency as a young teen, thrilled to think a young, handsome U.S. senator from my state could become president. I remember a classmate who supported Nixon's candidacy and I kept up a friendly competition to see whose chosen candidate would win -- we were both too young to vote. When JFK won, my family and I were thrilled. I'd been used to seeing Dwight D. Eisenhower as a young child on television, and thought only old men could be presidents, but now JFK would make US history as the youngest president ever elected. 

The brief Kennedy years were an exciting time for us Bostonians, and I followed his presidency the way other young teens followed movie stars in the then popular Hollywood gossip magazine, Photoplay.

Then unimagined tragedy hit us all in the gut on November 22, 1963, when our beloved JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.  In my mind, I can still see that famous photo of Mrs. Kennedy and her two young children, Caroline and John, standing on the steps of the White House waiting for President Kennedy's funeral procession to arrive.  My parents, my brother, and I wept as we watched the horse-drawn caisson carry his casket to Arlington Cemetery to be placed beneath the Eternal Flame.

As the years passed, we watched Caroline and John grow into fine young adults. But tragedy was never far away. Our former First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis,  passed away in 1994 at the young age of 64, and five years later, the unthinkable happed again when John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife, and his sister-in-law were killed when his plane went down off the coast of Martha's Vineyard in July of 1999.

And now, the unendurable news of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg's daughter and JFK's granddaughter's passing at the age of 35, leaving behind her husband, George, her 3-year-old son, and her 1-year-old daughter, her father, Edwin, her sister, Rose, and her brother, Jack.

We mourn with them in the loss of this intelligent, accomplished, beautiful, gentle woman.

Her passing reminded me of how far back my family appreciated and supported her grandfather, John F. Kennedy. We found this letter from him to my father after my father passed away.  I treasure it:

“Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.” ― Aeschylus