Yesterday at 02:47 AM1 day This is how fucking stupid they think their voting base is. Let's post this pic of Maduro surrounded by DEA agents. "Drugs are bad, mmmmkay, but not the drugs from Honduras."
Yesterday at 02:52 AM1 day 5 minutes ago, crash_davis said:This is how fucking stupid they think their voting base is. Let's post this pic of Maduro surrounded by DEA agents."Drugs are bad, mmmmkay, but not the drugs from Honduras."they marched his ass through NYC like he killed an insurance CEO or something, it was wild
Yesterday at 02:55 AM1 day 1 minute ago, Captainant said:they marched his ass through NYC like he killed an insurance CEO or something, it was wildThere are threads in Reddit which posit that this is all for show and that Maduro and Trump agreed to this. We'll see what comes of this.
Yesterday at 02:56 AM1 day So I've been dealing with the flu the past few days and napped a lot today.Maybe I heard incorrectly, but I swear I heard Trump say we're going to run Venezuela and get the oil.We don't have boots on the ground, and Maduro's people are still in control, and therefore we have no control.But we are going to run it and send civilian oilfield workers in there to take back "our" oil.But we don't control it.
Yesterday at 02:57 AM1 day 12 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:Mea culpa. I’ve been browsing this thread and I thought upon reading on post I thought you were supporting this particular action. If not I apologize. I saw the CR reference. But you know, the “ oh no CR” basically means I’m a complete pussy and probably a facist because I have no plausible arguments and a tiny dick, or I like sucking off orange golf cheaters who do, right?Lay off the sauce. Just a bunch of gibberish flowing out your keyboard that drunk you thinks is clever. I’ve never once voted Republican in a national or state election. My dad was a preacher and stepdad a cop. Instead of going to prison like half the folks with that draw would, I became a Democrat. In the 90s not 2016 like some on this board. I was around back in the day on Shaggy and remember quite a few folks singing a different tune back then. So yall spare me the holier than thou bull shit. I think Maduro getting taken out is potentially a good thing and I’m not gonna join in on the handwringing. A bunch of you are more anti-Trump than Democrats so the only orange dick sucking is you guys. It’s your whole identity and I read very little ideas on making the world a better place. Just doom gloom and attacking folks who don’t join in. It’s kinda pathetic. In all seriousness, those that engaged me in good faith, thanks. I’ll consider what you said in thinking this through.The attack dogs, go fuck yourselves and I hope you have orange hue nightmares tonight.
Yesterday at 03:01 AM1 day 1 hour ago, Hook'Em0608 said:Result is always dumb ass this or some insult because folks think they can size somebody up on a quick hot take.2 minutes ago, Hook'Em0608 said:Lay off the sauce. Just a bunch of gibberish flowing out your keyboard that drunk you thinks is clever.I’ve never once voted Republican in a national or state election. My dad was a preacher and stepdad a cop. Instead of going to prison like half the folks with that draw would, I became a Democrat. In the 90s not 2016 like some on this board. I was around back in the day on Shaggy and remember quite a few folks singing a different tune back then.So yall spare me the holier than thou bull shit.I think Maduro getting taken out is potentially a good thing and I’m not gonna join in on the handwringing. A bunch of you are more anti-Trump than Democrats so the only orange dick sucking is you guys. It’s your whole identity and I read very little ideas on making the world a better place. Just doom gloom and attacking folks who don’t join in. It’s kinda pathetic.In all seriousness, those that engaged me in good faith, thanks. I’ll consider what you said in thinking this through.The attack dogs, go fuck yourselves and I hope you have orange hue nightmares tonight.Lulz
Yesterday at 03:02 AM1 day I’m sure this will turn into an unmitigated disaster at some point, but my friend’s wife is Venezuelan and she was in tears today. She’s thinking she may be able to go back home for the first time in 30 years. Maybe a little good will come from this after all.
Yesterday at 03:04 AM1 day 17 minutes ago, Scheiss Meister said:Ok, now that I have calmed down, I'll leave my part of this at this:I'm not a congressman, but I voted for one who was all gung ho to get after Iraq. I was also gung ho to get in there and kick their asses. Since I voted for and supported him, I am partially responsible for his actions on Iraq. The voters bear the ultimate responsibility for those whom they choose to make policy and lead.I figured out that this was a grave error even before Baghdad fell. I watched on the news as a Marine unit left a major Republican Guard base that they had just overrun. They didn't blow up or disable the arms and ammo they found there, and they didn't leave even a corporal's guard to watch over it. Just left it for someone else. I know this because a Marine officer that they were interviewing told the reporters and the watching world that they were doing so.That someone else was the insurgents, and they made use of those arms and ammo on many young Americans. Maybe even you. I have felt awful about that since then, because I voted for and supported the invasion that was being so stupidly run. I soon came to see that it was stupid from the beginning, and that I shouldn't have supported it.I appreciate you and your service more than you know, or probably believe. You did everything that was asked of you, and that is admirable and honorable. I'd love to have a beer with you and swap sea stories.My point, so coarsely and inelegantly made, is that you should not have been asked to do that, and I share responsibility for the asking. I now refuse to ask it of anyone else for such flimsy reasons. I've seen too many times where terrible things were justified by hoped for good results, only to just be terrible.You go have the best life possible. I wish you wisdom, prosperity, and peace. Semper Fidelis.Same to you sir, I’m really not an asshole supporting the moves of our own tyrant. Just a hopeless optimist because that’s just how I am and why I didn’t understand the Iraq War when I fought it. 5 years after I was home I was still believing we made a difference. What a crock of shit and how embarrassing for me. Maybe I’m doing it again on this thread. Time will tell…
Yesterday at 03:08 AM1 day 5 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:So I've been dealing with the flu the past few days and napped a lot today.Maybe I heard incorrectly, but I swear I heard Trump say we're going to run Venezuela and get the oil.We don't have boots on the ground, and Maduro's people are still in control, and therefore we have no control.But we are going to run it and send civilian oilfield workers in there to take back "our" oil.But we don't control it.Take out the flu, and I'm kind of in the same spot since I've had the channel only on ESPN and old war movies on Tubi all day without having even clicked on a single link or site dealing with news today, but based on skimming this thread to get caught up on WTF is going on, I read several comments earlier that seem to have quoted His Orange Juliusness say something along the lines of "we're going to run Venezuela" and other shit about "our oil."
Yesterday at 03:18 AM1 day 13 minutes ago, Debris said:I’m sure this will turn into an unmitigated disaster at some point, but my friend’s wife is Venezuelan and she was in tears today. She’s thinking she may be able to go back home for the first time in 30 years. Maybe a little good will come from this after all.I mean I am sure a similar story could have been told about tons of our military interventions. I bet Iraqis were crying when Saddam went down. When Noriega went down. When we assisted in the coup against Allende.And good for them but fuck, I am just not interested in doing this anymore. And while I am not realy locked in on Panama history she should know that these things rarely end well.
Yesterday at 03:24 AM1 day 55 minutes ago, Captainant said:Columbian President is coming out swinging
Yesterday at 03:31 AM1 day Interesting insight into the process and thinking of the admin hereDelcy Rodríguez and the core of the regime’s leadership are negotiating with the United States as we speak. This is not a sudden pivot. It is the result of a conclusion reached in Washington over months: the U.S. does not believe that María Corina Machado and the opposition have the operational capacity to seize power in Venezuela because they do not control, or meaningfully fracture, the military. If they did, power would have shifted immediately after the 2024 presidential election. It did not.For a long period, U.S. officials, including Marco Rubio, were in constant communication with Machado and her team. They were asked repeatedly for proof of a concrete plan, not just to win power symbolically, but to retain it in practice: chain of command, military alignment, institutional control, day-after governance. The answers were consistently evasive, justified by security concerns, but never substantiated. At that point, from the U.S. government’s perspective, the opposition ceased to look like a viable transition mechanism and began to look like a political wager with no enforcement arm.The plan now on the table is for Delcy Rodríguez to stabilize the country with U.S. backing and then call for general elections. This is not framed as an endorsement of the regime, but as a containment and transition strategy. Washington is explicit about one thing: this is not a partnership of equals. The United States is running the process, the lines are being managed through Rubio, and the leverage is entirely asymmetric. Delcy is the instrument, not the center of gravity.U.S. officials also assess that Delcy’s harsh public rhetoric today was aimed inward, at the chavista base, not outward. That messaging is understood as domestic signaling. Nevertheless, as of now, negotiations with the United States are ongoing as we speak. Edited yesterday at 03:31 AM1 day by KYHorn
Yesterday at 03:35 AM1 day Popular Post 1 hour ago, Hook'Em0608 said:Iraq was very complicated and democracy won’t work there. I was just a kid, the “adults” should have known that. Hell I was there and didn’t understand it until many many years later. I think democracy can work in Venezuela but that’s for them to decide. Which needs to happen soon. I don’t trust our admin to run anything. Some on here are looking so hard to attack “maga” they aren’t actually seeing what I’m saying. That Venezuela is in our hemisphere and conspiring with our enemies against our interest. Maduro being gone is a chance for that country to decide their future if Trump doesn’t fuck it up. I’m rooting for that outcome. I don’t care if it’s a feather in his cap, he’s done as a candidate. Our nightmare will soon be over and maybe one good thing occurs for the world during that time. This shouldn’t be a controversial take.I don't know that you can make pronouncements about democracy in either Iraq or Venezuela.The problem is, the guy who did it. He never does anything that doesn't benefit him as directly as possible. Exactly what his precise motives here are unknown, but you can count on some form of self-dealing.And you're correct that anything in the aftermath the Trump administration can fuck up it will, and to a fare-the-well. There aren't any democracy believers in the administration, certainly not Trump. We've done this before with varying combinations of democracy belief and corruption, that is better men and worse. It's always ended up corrupt. Even and especially if we get a friendly corrupt administration. It's going to throw the doors wide for our enemies.If Venezuela lands on democracy, it will be an amazing accident of historical proportions.
Yesterday at 03:44 AM1 day I guess I'll wait to see if the corner store puts up a new sign that says, "TRUMP OIL" in big, gaudy, gold letters in the next year or so.
Yesterday at 03:45 AM1 day 7 minutes ago, KYHorn said:Washington is explicit about one thing: this is not a partnership of equals. The United States is running the process, the lines are being managed through Rubio, and the leverage is entirely asymmetric.We aren’t running anything if we don’t have boots on the ground and/or control of any part of their society. It’s crazy, we have all of these people talking about what’s down the road, but nobody is talking about the fact that we do not currently control Venezuela in any way, shape, or form outside of a naval blockade. And I’m lukewarm on Zeihan on a lot of things, but he’s right about their food imports. We are about to become responsible for making sure that many Venezuelans are eating, and there’s a timer that has started. Shame USAID got cut, that’s their bread and butter.
Yesterday at 03:51 AM1 day 7 minutes ago, KYHorn said:lol this would be a zing if the people decrying this supported China or Russia.
Yesterday at 04:06 AM1 day 59 minutes ago, Debris said:She’s thinking she may be able to go back home for the first time in 30 yearsI mean, sure, as long as she doesn’t want to come back to the US after her visit
Yesterday at 04:12 AM1 day 1 hour ago, crash_davis said:This is how fucking stupid they think their voting base is. Let's post this pic of Maduro surrounded by DEA agents."Drugs are bad, mmmmkay, but not the drugs from Honduras."He is totally getting a pardon
Yesterday at 04:19 AM1 day 47 minutes ago, KYHorn said:Interesting insight into the process and thinking of the admin hereDelcy Rodríguez and the core of the regime’s leadership are negotiating with the United States as we speak. This is not a sudden pivot. It is the result of a conclusion reached in Washington over months: the U.S. does not believe that María Corina Machado and the opposition have the operational capacity to seize power in Venezuela because they do not control, or meaningfully fracture, the military. If they did, power would have shifted immediately after the 2024 presidential election. It did not.For a long period, U.S. officials, including Marco Rubio, were in constant communication with Machado and her team. They were asked repeatedly for proof of a concrete plan, not just to win power symbolically, but to retain it in practice: chain of command, military alignment, institutional control, day-after governance. The answers were consistently evasive, justified by security concerns, but never substantiated. At that point, from the U.S. government’s perspective, the opposition ceased to look like a viable transition mechanism and began to look like a political wager with no enforcement arm.The plan now on the table is for Delcy Rodríguez to stabilize the country with U.S. backing and then call for general elections. This is not framed as an endorsement of the regime, but as a containment and transition strategy. Washington is explicit about one thing: this is not a partnership of equals. The United States is running the process, the lines are being managed through Rubio, and the leverage is entirely asymmetric. Delcy is the instrument, not the center of gravity.U.S. officials also assess that Delcy’s harsh public rhetoric today was aimed inward, at the chavista base, not outward. That messaging is understood as domestic signaling. Nevertheless, as of now, negotiations with the United States are ongoing as we speak.That's fucking wild that Whiskey Pete had ANOTHER fuckup and there was ANOTHER leak of an active attack plan.
Yesterday at 04:23 AM1 day 3 minutes ago, Captainant said:That's fucking wild that Whiskey Pete had ANOTHER fuckup and there was ANOTHER leak of an active attack plan.NYT, Wapo, and WSJ should be interesting next week and full of competing IC narratives.
Yesterday at 04:28 AM1 day 3 hours ago, elguapo said:During Trumps PC today he didn’t make a single mention of restoring democracy to Venezuela. He doesn’t give a single fuck about Venezuelans unless he can get something out of them.first, venezuela must pay for their regime change, and the trump pay off will be about $2bil
Yesterday at 04:35 AM1 day 52 minutes ago, KYHorn said:To the people who say the US is only interested in our oil...you are absolutely right. Wow. really got them there.
Yesterday at 04:36 AM1 day 22 minutes ago, Anastasis said:Also toss in that if Ukraine doesn't give up its nukes, the chances of a Russian invasion drop quite a bit.Lot of countries in the world have to be looking at those two things now that Trump has actually, publicly, said we need to go after more countries. Edited yesterday at 04:37 AM1 day by atomheartbevo
Yesterday at 04:53 AM1 day So, just want to nail down commitments from the folks who support this action.Do you support similar active military action to seize Greenland?Because it is going to happen. Show us your principles. You’re going to need to stick with them.
Yesterday at 04:57 AM1 day 3 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:So, just want to nail down commitments from the folks who support this action.Do you support similar active military action to seize Greenland?Because it is going to happen. Show us your principles. You’re going to need to stick with them.President of Denmark atm.
23 hours ago23 hr 1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said:If Venezuela lands on democracy, it will be an amazing accident of historical proportions.Before the socialists took over, ending democracy, and wrecking the oil industry, Venezuela was considered one of the most stable and prosperous democracies in Latin America. Why wouldn't they have a chance to return to that?
23 hours ago23 hr Does anyone know who is actually in charge in Venezuela right now? Seems like that would be a question you would want to answer before you go in and black bag Maduro and his wife.
23 hours ago23 hr 9 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:Before the socialists took over, ending democracy, and wrecking the oil industry, Venezuela was considered one of the most stable and prosperous democracies in Latin America. Why wouldn't they have a chance to return to that?Light rail systems are fantastic and work incredibly well in many places.Yet whenever it was proposed here, with Cap Metro running it, I voted “no.”Because the person/entity in charge of a project matters a whole fucking lot.You’ll note that the concept of a free and democratic Venezuela really didn’t come up once in any direct fashion in the speech by….the guy in charge of this project. Taking their oil did. Dozens of times.“I’ve seen F-16s do amazing things dozens of times!” doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t expect one piloted by you or me to do anything but crash and burn. The pilot fucking matters. But nobody in this country seems to get that about TFG and literally ANYTHING, so fuck it, let’s just keep lighting shit on fire and hoping for the best.
23 hours ago23 hr 9 minutes ago, royiv said:Does anyone know who is actually in charge in Venezuela right now? Seems like that would be a question you would want to answer before you go in and black bag Maduro and his wife.I think this will be a story in the next few days. No plan at all.
23 hours ago23 hr Venezuelans,The HOUR OF LIBERTY has arrived!As of today, Nicolás Maduro faces international justice for the atrocious crimes committed against Venezuelans and against citizens of many other nations. In the face of his refusal to accept a negotiated solution, the government of the United States has fulfilled its promise to uphold the law.The time has come for Popular Sovereignty and National Sovereignty to prevail in our country. We will restore order, free the political prisoners, build an exceptional nation, and bring our children back home.We have fought for years, we have given everything, and it has been worth it. What had to happen is now happening.This is the hour of the citizens. Those of us who risked everything for democracy on July 28. Those who elected Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate President of Venezuela, who must immediately assume his constitutional mandate and be recognized as Commander-in-Chief of the National Armed Forces by all the officers and troops who serve in it.Today we are ready to enforce our mandate and take power. Let us remain vigilant, active, and organized until the Democratic Transition is achieved. A transition that needs EVERY ONE of us.To Venezuelans inside the country: be prepared to act on what we will very soon communicate through our official channels.To Venezuelans abroad: we need you mobilized, engaging governments and citizens around the world, and committing them now to the great task of rebuilding the new Venezuela.In these decisive hours, receive all my strength, my trust, and my affection. We remain alert and in contact.VENEZUELA WILL BE FREE!We go forward hand in hand with God, until the end.[Signature]María Corina Machadohttps://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/inside-operation-absolute-resolve-the-u-s-incursion-that-deposed-venezuelas-maduro-fa812617?st=Xwnxgv&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
23 hours ago23 hr 29 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:Before the socialists took over, ending democracy, and wrecking the oil industry, Venezuela was considered one of the most stable and prosperous democracies in Latin America. Why wouldn't they have a chance to return to that?Ah yes, the well known stability of *checks notes* Latin American democracy
23 hours ago23 hr 17 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:Light rail systems are fantastic and work incredibly well in many places.Yet whenever it was proposed here, with Cap Metro running it, I voted “no.”Because the person/entity in charge of a project matters a whole fucking lot.You’ll note that the concept of a free and democratic Venezuela really didn’t come up once in any direct fashion in the speech by….the guy in charge of this project. Taking their oil did. Dozens of times.“I’ve seen F-16s do amazing things dozens of times!” doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t expect one piloted by you or me to do anything but crash and burn. The pilot fucking matters. But nobody in this country seems to get that about TFG and literally ANYTHING, so fuck it, let’s just keep lighting shit on fire and hoping for the best.Interesting word salad.
23 hours ago23 hr 1 minute ago, elfenix said:Ah yes, the well known stability of *checks notes* Latin American democracyYes, by Latin American standards, and relative to it's neighbors, Venezuela was stable and prosperous democracy. Why is that hard to accept?
22 hours ago22 hr 45 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:Before the socialists took over, ending democracy, and wrecking the oil industry, Venezuela was considered one of the most stable and prosperous democracies in Latin America. Why wouldn't they have a chance to return to that?did wanna be hitler mention democracy in his words today ?
22 hours ago22 hr Popular Post 6 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:We haven't done this before.With Panama, Congress was involved in the years running up to the invasion. Panama even declared war on the US and killed a Marine Corps officer. The American people had been told over and over what was going on down there, and ultimately why we needed to.Venezuela? We were told fentanyl was a WMD, even though the vast majority comes through Mexico. We were executing dudes in boats without due process, when for the previous 20+ years, the Coast Guard would catch them and put them on trial, oh and our administration couldn't get their story straight on whether or not we were killing helpless dudes in water. And some of those dudes were not going to the US at all. We were told these dudes in boats could kill 25,000 Americans. None of us were buying any of that.We hear all of this stuff about drugs, but what did Trump fixate on in his presser? How we were going to run Venezuela and bring in our oil companies and take our oil back. And then he goes on Fox and Friends and says "gee whiz, we need to do this to other countries, we are really good at this" and he apparently warns Cuba, Mexico, and Colombia.Meanwhile, unlike Panama where we had tens of thousands of boots already on the ground with all of their gear, we don't have any control within the country itself, and Maduro's Vice President and Army Chief of Staff are out there on Venezuelan TV demanding Maduro be released.This is an absolute shit show. We kidnapped two people. There is a huge gap between kidnapping two people and actually controlling and running a country of 28 million people.We couldn't do it in Iraq with a force that was on the ground and ten+ times the size of what we have deployed in the Caribbean.
22 hours ago22 hr 8 million: Since 2014, nearly 8 million Venezuelans – close to a third of the population – have fled economic crisis and political repression, making it one of the two largest refugee crises in the world, alongside Syria. Colombia alone has absorbed nearly 3 million. About 770,000 went to the United States.https://www.cnn.com/2026/01/03/business/oil-gas-venezuela-maduro
22 hours ago22 hr Popular Post 50 minutes ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:Before the socialists took over, ending democracy, and wrecking the oil industry, Venezuela was considered one of the most stable and prosperous democracies in Latin America. Why wouldn't they have a chance to return to that?26 minutes ago, Anastasis said:Lol at any one talking about democracy in this exchange.So, my dad retired from one of the companies being mentioned in the media (well they acquired his company, but he spent 10+ years at them) and he worked all over Central and South America, including both onshore and offshore operations, from the 1980s through the early 2000s in his 45-year career.He's in a facebook group with a bunch of his former co-workers that he's remained friends with and was telling me some of what they were discussing. Bunch of former o&g exploration/production folks in their 60s-90s mostly from the South and Texas, so you can guess their politics. It sounds like some of them have been contacted "recently" about going down to Venezuela or at least acting as consultants here, because they have knowledge of the areas or former facilities or something.He said there's two main threads - the first is security. When they were down there, regardless of the country, they almost always had private security teams that secured their compounds, and they had the country's government backing them (sometimes units had small barracks nearby). Even if there was corruption, there was an understanding that various groups (drugs, guerillas) generally wouldn't fuck with them too much because the governments liked the oil flowing, and pretty much everybody got some kind of cut of revenue (bribe) whether it was locals or whatever groups were active nearby, and they were usually left alone as a result. They also, as a last resort, usually had American contacts they could call upon. Here in 2025, they may not have the Venezuelan military/government on their side (if there is a military) if there's bitterness/resentment over how things are playing out, especially if all of the revenue was flowing straight from the facility back to America. You can get into some nasty areas out there in the boonies.The other thread is basically "what's the point" because a bunch of them think even if we go in there and run things, it's going to take years of investment to make a healthy profit and if we actually follow through on elections, 5 or 10 years down the road, some populist/socialist type will get elected on a platform of "they are stealing our oil" and things will get really nasty again, and there will be a hostile environment and/or either the government takes a lot more of the revenue, or stops any contracts (or even nationalizes things again). The US is then faced with either letting those resources go, or being hardasses and putting down the Venezuelan government, and that will come down to whoever is in the White House. They think there is no way in hell Chevron or Exxon or anybody else will go in there without guarantees from the US government of covering their expenses/potential losses, which means the taxpayers will cover it.And a couple of people mentioned that if Chevron and Exxon go in there, they will probably face a pretty serious boycott by a lot of people, and/or there may even be problems with them operating in other countries who don't renew their contracts or even cancel them outright over this. They thought there was a real possibility that surrounding countries, and even countries outside of the region, will decline to do business with them in the long run. Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by atomheartbevo
22 hours ago22 hr 6 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:Oh, and before American oil companies go in there, we probably should, and I'm just spitballin' here, we can workshop the details later on, but I think we should probably secure the country first. We start sending in oilfield workers and engineers without, I dunno, having boots on the ground, well I don't think it will end well.And that's putting aside the fact that it's not really our business to help companies deal with really bad decisions on where they invested in the first place." ...we should probably secure the country first..."6 hours ago, Chopper said:I know little about the oil business but isn't Venezuela's oil considered very low quality to the point where it makes no sense to extract it at current prices? Makes me think this is more about creating a diversion from the Epstein files and for fascism to flex its muscles for domestic purposes."Current prices" are not the same for everybody. The component of US oil & gas production costs attributable to taxes, our litigious society and insurance costs, and safety and environmental costs are not issues with most other countries. Other countries net a much higher percentage of the current price than US companies realize.The US is different in that if you drill, you have more oil. If you don't drill, it declines at 15-20% per year. We have already been through the primary, secondary and tertiary phases of oil recovery, and are back to the primary phase, on steroids this time.Venezuela has arguably the highest oil reserves in the world. Current production is ~ 600,000 BPD v. a peak of ~ 3,600,000 BPD. ~ 3,000,000 BPD x $75/bbl x 365 = $82 Billion/year, with a "B"Put me in the, "What the fuck are we doing?" column. This is 100% political BS. And whatever the Donald does, will be undone, when he is gone. But it's hard as hell getting the toothpaste back in the tube6 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:My dad said something about we have refineries that could handle that oil.Trump at least spent a lot of time talking about taking the oil. At least he’s not hiding it.5 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:Our Gulf Coast refineries are specifically built to refine it.A large part of the US refining Industry was "retooled" in the 80'-90's to refine a slate of heavy, sour crude from Mexico & Canada, Venezuela, and other places.Most of what I knew about Venezuela's oil industry I forgot about about 20 years ago. Here is a graph of their historical oil production: Some key dates:1970 Venezuela oil production peaks at over 3.5 MMBPD1976 Nationalization of the Venezuelan oil industry, creating Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA, "ped-e-vesa") , the state-owned oil and gas company of Venezuela.1984 Oil production dropped to ~1.5 MMBPD after the nationalization. 1995 Oil production increases to over 3 MMBPD with sharing agreements w/ western oil companies. PDVSA & partners was an efficient partnership.2002 Chávez, crippling and bleeding PDVSA to fund his social agenda, resulted in PDVSA employees going on strike, starting the decay of the domestic industry. 2007, PDVSA's renationalization program; Assets of ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips were expropriated in 2007 after they declined to restructure their holdings to give PDVSA majority control; Total, Chevron, Statoil and BP agreed and retained minority shares in their Venezuelan projects. Basically, the western companies started heading towards the exits.2016 @PTINS pushed away from the table and moves home to Austin. Okay, not sure what caused the precipitous drop, but it coincides with the shale boom in the Permian, led by Chevron, Exxon & Conoco.Though the US production volumes are sufficient to meet domestic demand, the US exports ~ 3.5 MMBPD of light crude oil and imports similar quantities of heavy crude oil.The renationalization in 2007, after western oil companies had spent $$$$ to rebuild the oil industry, did not sit well with a lot of people. Exxon and Conoco, sued, and won, I think, but I doubt either of them ever received anything back. 3 hours ago, Updawg said:How fucked is Texas if gas drops below $1?I think federal, state and local taxes will prevent that from happening.Whatever has caused the decline in oil production down to 500,000 BPD, it won't come back by simply opening a valve. The oil is heavy and sour, and requires significant investment and time to reverse the decline. Please note the fresh air equipment John Wayne is wearing. The oil & gas has high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide; extremely toxic, like one breath and you die.The big US companies are the largest producers in the Permian Basin, the shooting fish in a barrel Permian Basin; the same companies that got fucked, and then fucked again by Venezuela. I can't see them hurrying up and doing anything in V, even if they could. They have all made huge acquisitions in the past few years, are consolidating operations, and have had large staff reductions in the past few years, all under the umbrella of oil prices that are half of what they were 3 years ago.Nobody, not the US, the Saudi's, Russia, nor OPEC, are wanting to see a flood of oil coming from Venezuela any time soon.I expect there will continue to be upheaval in the world market, but not from an increase in Venezuela oil production.
22 hours ago22 hr 9 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:Scrolled and scrolled, did I miss the recipe for arepas?No recipe, but there is a number for a Venezuelan massage parlor if you look real hard. Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by pacman
21 hours ago21 hr 1 hour ago, MagicSoccerSpray said:Yes, by Latin American standards, and relative to it's neighbors, Venezuela was stable and prosperous democracy. Why is that hard to accept?So stable and prosperous that they voted for Hugo Chavez. Tallest midget is still a midget.
20 hours ago20 hr The Venezuelans when the United States finishes the orderly transition to democracy and they can vote again
20 hours ago20 hr https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20260104-cocaine-corruption-and-machine-guns-what-led-to-the-indictment-of-venezuela-maduro
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