A civilian runs from the sound of explosions in Caracas overnight
THE United States bombed Venezuela overnight, with explosions rocking the capital Caracas and targets in the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.
The Venezuelan government ordered “all national defence plans to be implemented” and called for the people of the country to mobilise to fend off a “colonial war” aiming at regime change, in co-ordination with the “fascist oligarchy” that has always sought to reverse the Bolivarian revolution. Given the explicit threats of an attack from the US in recent months, Venezuela has distributed arms to popular militias around the country.
The Pentagon and White House have been tight-lipped about the attacks, with the main confirmation simply a Federal Aviation Authority warning to commercial aircraft to steer clear of the Latin American country because of “military activity.” Reports aired by some US broadcasters that US President Donald Trump has ordered a land invasion have not been confirmed.
“The whole ground shook… this is horrible,” Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker, her voice trembling, told the Associated Press. She was walking briskly with two relatives, returning from a birthday party. “We felt like the air was hitting us.”
Mr Trump has built up a huge armada off Venezuela’s coast and carried out a lethal campaign of bombings against boats in the Caribbean, accusing them without evidence of smuggling drugs. Officially the US accuses the government of President Nicolas Maduro of being involved in drug-smuggling too, but in online rants the US leader has revealed his real aim is to restore US corporate control of the country’s oil reserves, the largest proven reserves on Earth. The US boarded and stole two oil tankers carrying Venezuelan crude last month.
A recent National Security Strategy published by the White House called on the United States to reassert the Monroe Doctrine — which calls for US dominance in the western hemisphere and the exclusion of all “non-hemispheric” powers from it.
“The Bolivarian government calls upon all social and political forces of the country to activate mobilisation plans and to repudiate this imperialist attack,” the Venezuelan government said in a statement.
There are reports in the last few minutes that Trump has announced on his truth social that President Maduro and his wife have been captured and removed from Venezuela.
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A view from the exhibition as Iran exhibits its missiles, satellite-carrying rockets and air defence systems, including the missiles and drones used in the Israeli attack, at the Aviation and Space Park Permanent Exhibition Centre of the Revolutionary Guards Army in capital Tehran, Iran on November 12, 2025. [Fatemeh Bahrami – Anadolu Agency]
Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Monday on X that “Iran’s missile and defensive capabilities are neither containable nor in need of permission,” according to the German Press Agency (DPA).
Shamkhani was quoted by DPA as saying: “Any aggression towards Iran would be met with an “immediate harsh response” beyond the imagination of its planners.”
His remarks came in response to a warning from US President Donald Trump to Iran on Monday over rebuilding its nuclear programme. Trump made the comments while hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Florida residence for extensive talks.
Speaking to reporters at Mar-a-Lago, Trump said: “I’ve been reading that they’re building up weapons and other things, and if they are, we will have to hit them. But we hope it does not happen.”
He added that “the United States could support another major strike on Iran were it to resume rebuilding its ballistic missile or nuclear weapons programmes.”
Trump’s warning followed his claim that Iran’s nuclear capabilities had been “completely and entirely destroyed” by US strikes on key nuclear enrichment sites in June.
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Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
A video posted by US President Donald Trump to Truth Social depicts him in a crown, piloting a fighter jet emblazoned with the words “King Trump,” dumping feces on “No Kings” protesters in Times Square, on October 19, 2025. (Screenshot: President Donald Trump on Truth Social)
Under his leadership, our political structure is naked and exposed, stripped of its political correctness.
In the Donald Trump era—praise be!—so much is possible that previously no one had ever even imagined. For instance, not only has “the late, great Hannibal Lecter” come back to life, he might even join Trump’s cabinet.
Well, that’s just a guess, but why not? I think he’d fit right in. All of which is to say: “There’s something happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear…” It’s not simply that Trump is unique (i.e., uniquely crazy). He definitely is, but he’s also American to the core. Under his leadership, our political structure is naked and exposed, stripped of its political correctness. The emperor has no clothes! Suddenly we can’t avoid seeing this.
Indeed, we can’t avoid seeing ourselves. As psychologist John Gartner has pointed out, Trump is not only a malignant narcissist, but—as has been clear in his second term—he’s slithering ever more deeply into dementia. Yet people still support him—enough people to let him win elections. Why?
Because, Gartner notes: “He’s beating up on their shared enemies. There’s a psychological appeal that a Hitler-like character has. Someone who feels disempowered feels re-empowered by someone who, in a punitive way, is attacking their shadow enemies and making them feel powerful and entitled to dominate.”
The “war” on terror, the transcendence of terror—the transformation of humanity, of Planet Earth—begins by looking deeply at ourselves and choosing to evolve.
I would add that these “enemies” may simply be pulled out of the blue… a group his supporters weren’t even aware of. But the strongman has declared them to be the enemy: in effect, creating the enemy. What matters is not that a long-despised group of people are getting what they “deserve,” but that the disempowered supporters now have someone they can feel like they’re dominating.
And, yeah, Trump is going crazy, so to speak, attacking various enemies. As Bret Wilkins writes at Common Dreams:
President Donald Trump—the self-described “most anti-war president in history”—has now ordered the bombing of more countries than any president in history as US forces carried out Christmas day strikes on what the White House claimed were Islamic State militants killing Christians in Nigeria…
In addition to Nigeria, Trump—who says he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize—since 2017 has also ordered the bombing of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen, as well as boats allegedly transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Trump has also deployed warships and thousands of US troops near Venezuela, which could become the next country attacked by a president who campaigned on a platform of “peace through strength.”
But this “leadership” is anything but unprecedented. As Palestinian-American comedian Sammy Obeid asks, in a comedy routine with more factual clarity than is often present in the official media: What actually is terrorism, this thing we’ve been trying so hard to eliminate for the last couple decades? To find out, he looked up the definition: Terrorism is “using violence to achieve a political goal.”
Uh… America itself is the biggest terrorist of all time, apparently! Or at least it’s well up there on the list. Beyond the Vietnam War—millions dead—there’s the alleged War on Terror, launched by George W. Bush, continued by Barack Obama, eventually ended by Joe Biden.
According to Brown University’s Costs of War Project: “An estimated over 940,000 people were killed by direct post-9/11 war violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan between 2001-2023. Of these, more than 412,000 were civilians. The number of people wounded or ill as a result of the conflicts is far higher, as is the number of civilians who died ‘indirectly,’ as a result of wars’ destruction of economies, healthcare systems, infrastructure, and the environment. An estimated 3.6-3.8 million people died indirectly in post-9/11 war zones, bringing the total death toll to at least 4.5-4.7 million and counting.”
You might say Trump brings the darkness of all this to light. Isn’t that where war belongs—in raw public scrutiny? Perhaps the greatest enemy of peace is the collective justification and abstraction of war by the political and media complex, along with the financial flow making it possible. This is our national infrastructure. Trump is exposing it, not intentionally, but with snarky, 12-year-old honesty, mixed with dementia.
“Terrorism is using violence to achiever a political goal.” The “war” on terror, the transcendence of terror—the transformation of humanity, of Planet Earth—begins by looking deeply at ourselves and choosing to evolve. If we refuse to do so, we have Donald Trump.
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Demonstrators gather outside a Tesla showroom as part of “TeslaTakedown” protest against CEO Elon Musk in New York City on May 3, 2025. (Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“If the monstrous political-economic system that is tearing our planet, the climate, and its people apart isn’t brought to its knees—then humanity will be,” warned one climate scientist.
Led by Big Tech billionaires including Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, and Elon Musk, the world’s 500 richest people added a record $2.2 trillion to their collective wealth in 2025, Bloombergreported as the year ended on Wednesday.
“Obscene greed! While billions of people live in poverty,” human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell responded on X—a social media platform now controlled by Musk, the richest person on Earth. “It’s why we need a global wealth tax.”
Musk—who could become the world’s first trillionaire thanks to his new controversial pay package as CEO of Tesla—is one of just eight ultrawealthy individuals who got around a quarter of all the gains recorded by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The others are Amazon founder Bezos and Oracle chairman Ellison, as well as Michael Dell, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Jensen Huang of Nvidia, and Meta‘s Mark Zuckerberg. The previous year, Bloombergnoted, “the same eight billionaires made up 43% of the total gains.”
According to Bloomberg, the gains that brought the combined net worth of all 500 people to $11.9 trillion “were turbocharged” by the 2024 election victory of President Donald Trump. The Republican and his relatives were among the “biggest winners” of 2025, gaining at least $282 million, for a net worth of $6.8 billion.
The “winners” also include Musk, who gained $190.3 billion for a net worth of $622.7 billion; Ellison, who gained $57.7 billion for a net worth of $249.8 billion; and Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart, who gained $12.6 billion for a net worth of $37.7 billion.
After Trump’s electoral win, several Big Tech billionaires buddied up to him, with Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all attending his inauguration. Musk then spent several months spearheading the administration’s attack on federal workforce as the de facto leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Sharing the Guardian‘s coverage of the findings on the social media network Bluesky, British climate scientist Bill McGuire warned that “if the monstrous political-economic system that is tearing our planet, the climate, and its people apart isn’t brought to its knees—then humanity will be.”
The Guardian pointed to Oxfam International’s November statement that $2.2 trillion “would have been more than enough to lift 3.8 billion people out of poverty,” which the humanitarian group highlighted ahead of the Group of 20 Summit hosted by South Africa, whose government used its G20 presidency to push for solutions to global inequality.
“Inequality is a deliberate policy choice. Despite record wealth at the top, public wealth is stagnating, even declining, and debt distress is growing,” Oxfam executive director Amitabh Behar said at the time. “Inequality rips away life opportunities and rights from the majority of citizens, sparking poverty, hunger, resentment, distrust, and instability.”
A June 2024 report from French economist and EU Tax Observatory director Gabriel Zucman—prepared for the G20’s Brazilian presidency—estimated that a global 2% minimum tax on the wealth of 3,000 billionaires could generate about $250 billion.
As seven Nobel laureates, including Joseph Stiglitz, noted in a July op-ed published by the French newspaper Le Monde, “By extending this minimum rate to individuals with wealth over $100 million, these sums would increase significantly.”
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
Demonstrators face US Marines, National Guard members, and Department of Homeland Security officers in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, California on July 4, 2025. (Photo by Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images)
Accusing “a president desperate to be king” of using troops “as political pawns,” California’s attorney general noted the announcement followed “a stinging rebuke by the Supreme Court.”
After a series of losses in court, President Donald Trump ended 2025 with an announcement that he is pulling the plug on legally contested National Guard deployments in three major US cities—but he also pledged that troops will return in the new year.
Trump initially sent thousands of California National Guard members to Los Angeles in June amid protests against his violent immigration operations. The remaining troops left the city earlier this month in response to a pair of orders from a district judge and the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
The president also tried to deploy National Guard members to the streets of two other Democrat-led cities—Portland, Oregon, and Chicago, Illinois—but those moves were blocked by lawsuits, including one that produced a US Supreme Courtdecision last week.
Throughout the president’s push to deploy troops to these and other cities, he has circulated lies about crime rates. He did so again in the Wednesday announcement on his Truth Social platform, writing, “We are removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, despite the fact that CRIME has been greatly reduced by having these great Patriots in those cities, and ONLY by that fact.”
“Portland, Los Angeles, and Chicago were GONE if it weren’t for the Federal Government stepping in,” Trump claimed. “We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again – Only a question of time! It is hard to believe that these Democrat Mayors and Governors, all of whom are greatly incompetent, would want us to leave, especially considering the great progress that has been made???”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat expected to run for president in 2028, said on social media Wednesday that it is “about time Donald Trump admitted defeat. We’ve said it from day one: The federal takeover of California’s National Guard is illegal.”
Newsom and the state’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, challenged the LA deployment. In that case, the US Department of Justice on Tuesday filed a brief with the 9th Circuit withdrawing its motion to keep the California troops under federal control.
“For six months, CA National Guard troops have been used as political pawns by a president desperate to be king,” Bonta said Wednesday. “Now, in the face of a stinging rebuke by the Supreme Court, the Trump administration is backing away from its effort to federalize and deploy CA National Guard troops.”
Although that Supreme Court decision was not directly about California, the justices’ rejection of the Trump administration’s request to strike down a temporary restraining order that barred the Illinois deployment was expected to inform other cases.
Trump federalized Illinois and Texas national guard troops to patrol in Chicago, but Illinois quickly sued and won a court ruling keeping them out of the city. The troops did training exercises instead. Today, Trump claims that the guard "greatly reduced" crime in Chicago. Did they do it remotely?
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, another Democrat who may run for the Oval Office in the next cycle, also pointed to the recent ruling in his response to the president on Wednesday: “Donald Trump’s lying again. He lost in court when Illinois stood up against his attempt to militarize American cities with the National Guard. Now Trump is forced to stand down.”
“Illinois and Chicago have reduced crime with smart investments in police and community violence reduction programs,” he continued. “Meanwhile, Trump cut federal support for both. No matter how many lies he tells, we will keep standing up for truth and against his abuse of power.”
Ahead of Trump’s announcement, the New Republic‘s Greg Sargent said that the president and his deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, “are actually failing in crucial ways. Deportations are lagging behind their goals, courts are mostly functioning, and their fascist, ethnonationalist cruelties have unleashed a countermobilization of unexpected scope and power.”
After the new Truth Social post, Sargent added: “Trump just announced that he’s pulling the National Guard out of Chicago, LA, and Portland while pretending he won some kind of big victory. Here’s the reality: Their authoritarian designs have faced massive civil and popular resistance.”
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.
A civilian runs from the sound of explosions in Caracas overnight
