Venezuelan takeover with this bunch? ICE in Minneapolis

Venezuelan takeover with this bunch? ICE in Minneapolis

Venezuela takeover with this bunch? 

One of the consequences of our takeover of Venezuela is for other countries to claim a Trump-like Doctrine in their own back yards. Obviously what comes to mind is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or China’s threatening to seize Taiwan. We and NATO have aided the Ukrainians to defend themselves against the Russians. Russia may rattle its sword but the Ukraine folly has proven the Russian army to be a joke. But what if that Russian submarine sent to escort the tanker from Venezuela had interceded to prevent the boarding of the boat by the US military. What then? Will the exerting of supremacy in the western hemisphere make the world safer or will it make it riskier? Time will tell. China keeps acting like its going to attack Taiwan. If so it would pay a high price even if we did not intervene. Presumably we would move to deter the Chinese hoping that the result would not ignite a war. But the Chinese have disputes with India along their shared border and with Viet Nam and the Philippines in the South China Sea. What if they tried their version of the Trump Doctrine there? Would Australia do anything or Japan or US? 

The president said that the U.S. is going to “run” Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.” But then why did we leave intact the bad actors behind Maduro rather than replacing the government and forcing out their military leaders? I know that this was the recommendation of the CIA but I am not certain why. Trump said that Machado and Gonzalez who defeated Maduro in two elections were too weak to govern even though the polls show them with high approvals. Elevating Delcy Rodriguez to interim president and keeping Jorge Rodríguez Gómez, Vladimir Padrino López and Diosdado Cabello in power may prove to be a mistake. Rodriquez’ socialism may be worse than Maduro’s. Her brother Gomez is head of the National Assembly and was Maduro’s voice in the legislature. Lopez is defense minister and Cabello is head of the police, military and intelligence forces. Cabello has been called the most ideological and violent member of the regime and the most likely to stage a counter offensive against the US forces. Seems to me that keeping these three in place is just asking for trouble. 

The president has said that we are going to sell 30 – 50 million barrels of Venezuelan and he will determine how the receipts are spent. He tweeted “This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States!” Somehow it is not a surprise that the president will decide who gets what from the sale. Any for Don Jr and the rest of the family? Just asking.

One interesting development has been the reaction of Mexico’s president Claudia Sheinbaum to the takeover. She has sought good relations with Trump despite his imposition of tariffs and occasional threats to invade Mexico. Yet after the seizure of Maduro she said “The Government of Mexico energetically condemns and rejects the military actions unilaterally executed by the Armed Forces of the United States of America.” Historically, Sheinbaum’s Moreno party has not be a friend of America and Sheinbaum in particular has supported Maduro in Venezuela. Now will Trump seek to remove Sheinbaum and her party? Stay tuned.

The Minneapolis shooting

A few Somalis in Minnesota scammed the country out of $9 billion and the president and the republicans went bonkers. Medicaid fraud is over $100 billion per year and where are the outrage and legions of investigators and investigations to send those fraudsters to jail?  In Minneapolis there have been over 80 arrests and the investigation is on-going. It seemed like the FBI and the Department of Justice were proceeding nicely despite the best efforts of Minnesota officials not to assist in the effort. Evidence is coming out that many state and local officials were complicit in the fraud. But what was the justification for the president ordering 2,000 ICE personnel to descend on Minneapolis? Isn’t this a bit much?

Yes there may be some illegals among the Somali population but most are citizens. Was this just intended to be harassment? Regardless, it was a situation ready to explode and explode it did. Minneapolis prides itself as a sanctuary city. The state and local politicians are mainly left wingers who hate Trump and detest ICE. It was no surprise that when ICE arrived an instant mob of protestors appeared to deter them. One of the protestors was shot and killed. ICE claims that she was weaponizing her car and tried to run over one of them. The others say otherwise. 

Naturally all the democrats say the shooting was akin to murder while all the republicans say it was justified. There have been shouting matches in the halls of congress and democrats calling for the impeachment of Kristi Noem, the head of Homeland Security. House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries called Noem a liar and said “There’s no evidence that has been presented to justify the shooting of an unarmed woman in Minneapolis. The so-called Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem has zero credibility.”

Minneapolis’ mayor has said of ICE “Get the f—- out of Minneapolis” (BTW, “comedian” Jimmy Kimmel said as much on his show – see the Youtube video https://www.newsbreak.com/mediaite-520570/4431258467359-get-the-f-ck-out-jimmy-kimmel-puts-minneapolis-mayor-s-furious-ice-killing-rebuke-on-a-t-shirt).

Minnesota’s governor Walz actually said that he may call out the national guard to “protect” his citizens from ICE. Walz said that the state “was at war” with the federal government (shades of Jefferson Davis!). Now isn’t that an act of rebellion? How would that be handled by Trump? Will he try to arrest Walz and have him tried for treason? BTW, the woman shot was white. Can you imagine what would have happened if she has been a person of color. It would have been George Floyd all over again.

Meanwhile the president said he wanted to deport the fraudsters and strip any citizen of their citizenship. Tennessee’s Marsha Blackburn is accommodating him by introducing legislation to do just that. She says “The fraud schemes we have seen in Minnesota and across the country are a betrayal of hardworking American taxpayers, and individuals like the Somali scammers in Minnesota should be subject to both deportation and denaturalization for these crimes.” But why pick only on the fraud of a few Somalis? Why not make the law read for automatic deportation and denaturalization of anyone convicted of committing a felony? Medicaid anyone?