Barr SHUTS DOWN Dems on Maduro: Case stronger than Noriega
Former Attorney General Bill Barr discusses Nicolás Maduro’s upcoming arraignment, the strength of the indictment and comparisons to Manuel Noriega’s arrest.
Bill Barr: Case Stronger Than Noriega (Ruthless Podcast Interview)
… former AG Bill Barr sits down for a wide-ranging interview on Venezuela, narco-terrorism…
Turley left ‘BAFFLED’ by the left’s latest argument
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley responds to deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro pleading not guilty to drugs and weapons charges on ‘America Reports.’
Here is a summary of the excellent interview about the reasoning that led up to the actions the United States took against Venezuela. This is the link and description of the interview:
Gary Berntsen & Ralph Pezzullo explain how America’s enemies, foreign & domestic, are stealing the Republic. We dissect the controversial involvement of Smartmatic in the U.S. election system and explore the swirling allegations of manipulation and fraud. Our discussion probes deep into electoral malfeasance, questioning the integrity of the very systems that uphold our Republic. Expect a thorough examination of the evidence and sentiments surrounding these topics, drawing connections that extend all the way to Venezuela.
Here is a summary of the above podcast:
Summary of why it needed to be done outside of the ending of a communist regime and the freeing of an oppressed people.
BLUF: Venezuela operates as a hybrid narco-state and influence-operations hub, combining state-directed drug trafficking, transnational organized crime, espionage, and coordinated partnerships with hostile foreign powers, while leveraging covert political and information operations to undermine regional stability and U.S. national security.
Operating a global election-manipulation scheme originating in Venezuela, involving state-owned voting software (Smartmatic and successors), allegedly used to alter elections domestically, across Latin America, in the United States, and globally while defeating audits and concealing source code ownership
Running a state-led narcotics enterprise (Cartel de los Soles), with the Venezuelan military acting as the logistics arm and the president identified as the cartel’s leader
Weaponizing organized crime, including training and deploying gangs such as Tren de Aragua for foreign criminal and insurgent activity, including alleged operations inside the United States
Conducting long-term espionage and infiltration of U.S. diplomatic, intelligence, and political institutions, often in coordination with Cuban intelligence
Collaborating with hostile foreign powers (Cuba, China, Russia, Iran) to expand influence operations, fund destabilization efforts, and undermine U.S. national security
Exploiting U.S. government programs and taxpayer funds, allegedly using USAID-linked and NGO mechanisms to promote Venezuelan-origin election technology abroad
Establishing intelligence and political dominance in the Western Hemisphere, leveraging oil wealth, criminal revenue, and covert influence to shape regional governments
(Just a quick note on the graphic to the right… there is more info linked in the graphic… but this training in the lead up to this assault explains this training exercise accident. They were prepping heavily for this and accidental deaths are bound to happen)
THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR has a wonderful article that notes this has been in the legal making for quite a while
In the wake of the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro, the United States is now forced to reckon with a record of depravity that is nothing short of a great human scandal. Indeed, the crimes of which Mr. Maduro has been credibly accused boggle the mind.
Maduro’s presence on American soil is the result of years of legal preparation and, according to Saturday’s press conference, months of operational planning. He arrives facing a lengthy federal indictment in the Southern District of New York. The charges are staggering: narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation conspiracy, and the possession of machine guns and destructive devices. The U.S. government alleges that Maduro functioned as the leader of the “Cartel de los Soles,” effectively converting the Venezuelan state into a criminal enterprise designed to flood American streets with poison while enriching a corrupt elite. He is also accused of stealing American oil and using the proceeds to fund his criminal endeavors and entrench his power.
But as grave as these narco-terrorism charges are, they only scratch the surface of Maduro’s evil. The current U.S. legal framework focuses on drugs and guns because they provide the clearest, most traditional path to a domestic conviction. However, the American people, the Venezuelan people, and indeed the whole world deserve more than a trial about smuggling routes, vessels, and the usual talking points of foreign policy hawks.
Moreover, an inconvenient truth arises for his apologists, both foreign adversaries and domestic stooges: if the Department of Justice is truly committed to the so-called “full wrath of American justice,” it must pursue explicit charges for the crimes against humanity that define Maduro’s tenure. One crime especially demands the sword: the detention and physical and sexual torture of children.
The International Criminal Court has, since 2021, been pursuing a formal investigation into credible reports of systematic torture, sexual violence, and political persecution. Children are among those most affected by these heinous abuses. Following the South American nation’s rigged 2024 election, at least 220 children were forcibly detained. Many were held in adult prisons and subjected to what Amnesty International has dubbed “endless cruelty.”
The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission has documented a “policy of repression” that specifically targets the young. Further, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleges Maduro used the apparatus of the state — including legal cover provided by his wife, who has been indicted alongside him — to detain hundreds more children and subject them to unspeakable evil.
According to these reports, Maduro’s forces appear to have sexually tortured children and adolescents as young as 12 years old to extract sham confessions of “terrorism” and “treason.” Their “crime” was nothing more than attending pro-democracy protests with their parents. The methods used to extract these confessions included beatings, forced nudity, and coercive transactional sex from female children in exchange for basic needs. Most horrifyingly, reports from the UN confirm the use of electric shocks on the genitals of minors.
The United States must speak and act with crystalline clarity: the DOJ must immediately expand its charges against Maduro to include these crimes against children. Further, if convicted, Mr. Maduro has quite possibly forfeited his right to life. The same applies to the officials who performed and permitted these hellish acts — officials who, God willing, will also be brought to justice through the might of the American Armed Forces as the transition of power begins.
We are not merely discussing a failed communist experiment or a standard-issue autocrat. We are discussing a regime and a man that has likely systematically engaged in “anthropological murder” — the violent desecration of the human person and a war against the inviolable selfhood of the image-bearers of the Creator. To look upon the ruins of Maduro’s regime and offer only a shrug or sentencing for drug trafficking is to fail the most basic test of a just society. ….
And yes, this “God Tier Trolling” as Eric calls it is to counter the Mamdani speeach of “replac[ing] the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.” Audacious collectivism: that’s the Mamdani agenda — as the CITY JOURNAL calls it.
Let me also note that I have already seen the idea online that we are doing this for oil and minerals. I saw this same accusation during Dubya’s Iraq War… what was the actual outcome?
(CNNMoney.com) — “Despite claims by some critics that the Bush administration invaded Iraq to take control of its oil, the first contracts with major oil firms from Iraq’s new government are likely to go not to U.S. companies, but rather to companies from China, India, Vietnam, and Indonesia.” (MY UPDATED POST)
So similar to my post, I doubt you will see forced contracts with Venezuela over oil and mineral rights/purchases. But that aside, AND? So what if we want a free government by democratic process to install a free government… which would then not want to have contracts with the countries that came in and helped keep a dictator who lost the previous “election” and caused chaos while stealing their wealth.
My Gawd Man!
Full Interview: Marco Rubio on Venezuela | Meet the Press
(As an aside, I “hear” CNN and other networks and Democrats mention that Republicans and Donald Trump are undermining Democracy. In fact, 4-years of the Democrat Presidential candidate saying Trump is an illegitimate President and Democrats entire lie about Russian Collusion based on a lie about Trump’s involvement with Russia based on a knowable fake dossier which was the brainchild of Hillary. Democrats Chickens Are Coming Home To Roost!)
This was an excellent audio by Larry Elder… I add to the resources both in the audio as well as below:
MORE RESOURCES
(NEW YORK TIMES) How I Hacked an Election | NYT – Opinion;
(PBS NEWS HOUR)PBS Special on Dominion Voting Systems in Georgia 2020 – October 26, 2020;
(SYMANTIC)I Bought a Voting Machine Online … Then Hacked It;
(FUSION)A Hacker Shows Us How Easy it is To Manipulate Voting Machines;
(CNN BUSINESS) We Watched Hackers Break Into Voting Machines;
(NBC) ‘Online and vulnerable’: Experts find nearly three dozen U.S. voting systems connected to internet
(CEO SMARTMATIC) Election Company: Venezuela Result was Tampered;
[SIDE NOTE: for last video… election auditors were kept out in many swing state districts that had large Biden “vote dumps”].
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court just confirmed what many have thought was a myth. Here is an example from a video upload of mine (WATCH THE FIRST 25-SECONDS…. that’s not too much to ask is it?):
….Observers were forced to stand 30 to 100 feet away from the ballot counting and resorted to using binoculars. NEWSLA rightly calls PA a Banana Republic:
President Trump was up by nearly 700,000 votes on election night in Pennsylvania when all of a sudden vote counting came to a halt.
Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia stopped counting ballots on election night.
This is when crooked officials in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh got to work stealing the election for Joe Biden.
Millions of ballots appeared within a few days and hundreds of thousands of ballots were counted for Joe Biden as officials blocked GOP poll observers from having access to the vote counting centers.
GOP poll observers and lawyers for President Trump’s campaign were blocked from observing the process despite a court order from an appellate judge.
According to the court order, GOP observers must be allowed within 6 feet of the ballot counting.
Observers were forced to stand 30 to 100 feet away from the ballot counting and resorted to using binoculars.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday said all the state law requires is observers be allowed “‘in the room’ where ballots are counted. The law does not set a minimum distance between them and the counting tables…The legislature didn’t provide one, and the court can’t, either.”
The recent statement by Chris Krebs on the security of the 2020 Election was highly inaccurate, in that there were massive improprieties and fraud — including dead people voting, Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations, “glitches” in the voting machines which changed votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more. President Trump Fires Top Election Cybersecurity Official Chris Krebs
“Montenegro submitted over 8,000 fraudulent voter registration applications between July and October of this year, according to the district attorney’s office. Additionally, Montenegro allegedly falsified, ‘names, addresses and signatures on nomination papers under penalty of perjury to run for mayor in the city of Hawthorne.'” (I bet Trump probably made California a very close race, if not won it – jjs) California: 2 Charged with Voter Fraud, Allegedly Submitted Registration Applications on Behalf of Homeless
Robert Spencer: “… the ongoing revelations about the 2020 election are more than enough, if not to overturn the result, then at very least to underscore the fact that whether or not President Trump’s efforts to throw out illegal votes and stop voter fraud this year succeed, America will have no more free elections if this problem is not thoroughly addressed, and concrete actions taken to ensure that future elections are tamper-proof.” The Disputed Election of 2020 Could Make America Into Venezuela
“The decision was 5-2 because two justices wouldn’t have even decided the case, preferring to rule that it is moot. The principal dissent also explicitly says that throwing out valid ballots would not be an appropriate remedy anyway. “ Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules 5-2 Against Trump Claim on Ballot Observers
GEORGIA:
“Late this afternoon, I filed an Amended Complaint against GA Secretary of State @GaSecofState, et al. Due process issues are now also raised. The recount is a sham. Tomorrow, I will move for an emergency TRO.” Attorney Lin Wood Takes a Flamethrower to Georgia Gov. Kemp
“They must insist that the problems with their election counts be resolved to the satisfaction of all voters, or they must reject these fraudulent election results entirely, either by letting the Republicans in the House choose, or by choosing themselves.” If Election Issues Are Not Fixed, Elected State Republicans Must Refuse to Certify
“We have the legal and constitutional means to save the American system of self-government. All that remains to be seen is if we have the will to save our country.” A Real Red Wave
“Until now, Trump Derangement Syndrome could be dismissed as the cries of impotent rage by sore losers of a fair election. Now we’re hearing the vengeful howls of people who no longer feel impotent.” Fools and Nobody’s Fools
What do Democratic Socialists like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want America to look like? They say they want America to emulate Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Sweden. But do their proposed policies reflect that? Or do they point down a darker path? Debbie D’Souza, a native Venezuelan and political commentator, investigates.
Media personalities claim socialism didn’t cause Venezuela’s collapse, but it did.
POWERLINE sets the idea of “what socialism really is” when they note…
My one quibble is the assumption that Venezuela exemplifies income equality along with socialism. In fact, relatives and friends of the Chavez/Maduro regime have made off with billions while the majority went hungry. Socialism always leads to this kind of stark inequality. As I wrote at the link:
[T]hat is what socialism is all about: great wealth and power for a handful, poverty and humiliation for the vast majority.
Venezuela is in the midst of economic and social collapse. Which country do you think liberals would love to model our country after?
Stossel has an exchange with famed M.I.T. linguist Noam Chomsky, who once praised former President Hugo Chávez socialist policies.
(H-T to PHIL FERNANDES)Rafael Acevedo is Founder Director of Econintech, and teaches at the Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado in Barquisimeto. He is also Director of Politics of the Venezuelan Freedom Movement.
The longer speech by Rafael Acevedo of which the above is a truncation is HERE. Dinesh D’Souza’s wife ,Debbie D’Souza, a native Venezuelan, did a PRAGERU video as well:
We’ve read and watched the news of Venezuelan society collapsing under the weight of socialism. But how bad is it really? See this firsthand account from documentary filmmaker Ami Horowitz.
Dennis Prager first read from an AP story about Jamie Foxx visiting the death hole known as Venezuela (see the FREE REPUBLIC’S POST). Later in the show he actually gets a call from Caracas, Venezuela. I teared up a bit during the call, as did Prager apparently. Good stuff Maynard!
Here is Dennis’ Facebook comment:
Actor Jamie Foxx will pay no price for his visit with Venezuela President Maduro. A rare combo of doing evil — supporting a brutal dictator — and being stupid. Foxx will get picked up by a limo and go home to his mansion in California while the people of Venezuela starve and wait in line for toilet paper thanks to the socialist revolution.
Leftists don’t care about people, they care about ideas. This is Jamie Foxx. He care doesn’t care about the Venezuelan people. He cares about an idea. He loves the idea of equality. It’s painful. Just painful. Will there be a price paid for such radical stupidity? There is nothing a a left-winger could do that would elicit criticism.
My prayers are with these people fighting for freedom – and willing to lay down their life for it.
Several firefights have broken out in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas with opposition leader Juan Guaido calling for a military uprising against President Nicolas Maduro.
Guaido’s call came Tuesday morning in a three-minute video declaring the uprising as the “final phase” of his plan to oust Maduro, according to CBS News. This comes Guaido has turned the garrison of La Carlota air base to his cause.
“The moment is now,” he said, referring to the moment as “Operation Liberty,” according to The Washington Post. Formerly detained activist Leopoldo Lopez also appeared in the video after being freed on Tuesday, as well as armed soldiers and armored vehicles….
If the above video (sounds of gunfire) doesn’t show the seriousness of the situation, this video surely will (GRAPHIC):
THE DAILY CALLER notes it was only 10-years ago private ownership of guns was banned:
Venezuela banned private citizens from owning guns seven years ago, leaving firearms solely in the hands of the army and the police. Now, as the country’s opposition attempts to oust the oppressive Maduro regime from power, it is a decision some have come to regret.
[….]
In 2013, just 37 weapons were handed over voluntarily. More than 12,500 were confiscated by force.
Maduro ramped up the program in 2014, expending more than $47 million to enforce the ban. His tactics included “grandiose displays of public weapons demolitions in the town square,” according to Fox News.
Citizens who disobey the ban face 20 years in prison.
“Guns would have served as a vital pillar to remaining a free people, or at least able to put up a fight,” Javier Vanegas, a Venezuelan teacher exiled in Ecuador, told Fox News. “The government security forces, at the beginning of this debacle, knew they had no real opposition to their force. Once things were this bad, it was a clear declaration of war against an unarmed population.”
He added, “Venezuelans evolved to always hope that our government would be non-tyrannical, non-violator of human rights, and would always have a good enough control of criminality.”
Omar Adolfo Zares Sanchez, a lawyer and politician, suggested citizens could have combated the Maduro regime much sooner if they had access to guns….
RELATED: MSNBC reporter Kerry Sanders unwittingly made the American case for the Second Amendment during a report Tuesday on the political upheaval in Venezuela. (WASHINGTON FREE BEACON)
National Security Adviser, John Bolton, is interviewed by Hugh Hewitt. Topics visited are the Iranian Red Guard being designated a terror group, our possible responses to Venezuelan aggression to its own people, and the like. An important interview for the geo-political world we live in.
Someone I know on my Facebook posted a link to every “lie” Trump has told. This was my response:
All of Trump’s “lies,” combined, aren’t as bad as the press being led (willingly) by Ben Rhodes to publish lies about the Iran deal: “The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns. They literally know nothing” (BEN RHODES LIED).
…Rhodes and Obama knew that, for anyone but the hard-left to accept a deal with America’s bitter enemy in Tehran, a new narrative needed to emerge, even if it was relatively transparent nonsense. As Rhodes explained to his bemused interviewer, David Samuels, in a New York Times Magazine profile this weekend, it was first necessary to lie to a corrupted and inexperienced American media about all sorts of things, beginning with the nature and intentions of the enemy Iranian regime. Subsequent lies were caked on, as the White House took advantage of a dangerous mix of journalists’ ignorance, their ideological and partisan commitment to the administration, and, finally, their career aspirations.
Rhodes said, “The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and their only reporting experience consists of being around political campaigns… They literally know nothing.” Thus they will believe what he tells them. He also tells friendly non-governmental organizations and think tanks what he is telling the journalists. Those outlets produce “experts” whose expert opinion is just what Rhodes wants it to be. These ignorant young journalists thus have quotes that look like independent confirmation of the White House’s lies. Here’s how Samuels describes the scene:
In the spring of last year, legions of arms-control experts began popping up at think tanks and on social media, and then became key sources for hundreds of often-clueless reporters. ‘We created an echo chamber,’ [Rhodes] admitted, when I asked him to explain the onslaught of freshly minted experts cheerleading for the deal. ‘They were saying things that validated what we had given them to say.’ (emphasis added)…
That one deal funded lots and lots of terrorism and death… Via the Obama (and “would-be” Hillary) admin.
Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran deal that funded an increased monetary support of terrorism via the Obama administration.
This ONE ACT by Trump (defunding and designating Iran as a terrorist group) — that one act is more noble than all Trump’s “lies” and ignorance.
And here are a plethora of fake news declarations about Trump that bombed with time (DAILY CALLER). Donald Trump, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Sara Carter, Chuck Ross, John Solomon, Mollie Hemingway, and others, have had two years of their writings confirmed. Whereas CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, NPR, NYT, WaPo, etc, we’re shown to be wrong.
Decades after capitalism seemed to have triumphed over socialism, politicians are once again arguing about the merits and drawbacks of these opposing economic systems. Why are we still having this debate? Andy Puzder, former CEO of the parent company of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., explains the misconceptions that keep the debate alive.
Since socialists are unwilling or unable to look at what their philosophy does to people, Firewall host Bill Whittle shows us what it is doing to the animals, and asks how the richest person in Venezuela just happens to be the daughter of the socialist former President of that starving country.
