Rashonda notes Half Baked Harvest's recipe for 30 Minute Spicy Miso Chicken Katsu Ramen:
This is C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for Monday:
Monday, January 5, 2025. In the midst of his dementia, Donald Chump invades Venezuela and kidnaps that country's president and first lady, though Chump did not inform Congress of what was about to take place, he was on the phone with big oil, Cowardly Lindsey Graham put a toe outside of his closet long enough to defend "boss" Chump, a Democrat in Congressional leadership decided to start 2026 off demonstrating -- as he did all last year -- that he needed to step aside and let a real leader take over.
"Before and after." Pay attention to that in the video below.
If you took a long holiday, let's catch you up: Nut Job Chump illegally invaded Venezuela and kidnapped their president and first lady.
War Criminal Chump made clear that The Nobel Peace Przie did not belong to him and never will. He's insane, babbling through his dementia in front of the world.
He broke international law.
"Before and after." In the MEIDASTOUCH NEWS video above he says he consulted "before and after"? With Congress? No, he bypassed them, he provided them with no updates and he certainly didn't get permission from them.
He is a threat to the world. He's no longer just stupid and dumb and trashy. He's now completely paranoid -- that is a characteristic of dementia -- and his mental illness really should result in him being removed from office.
"They've stolen our property." He says that and he says, "We're going to take our oil back"
He's talking about the oil. The oil in the ground in Venezuela. That would be Venezuelan oil. No, they didn't steal it from the US. No, Chump is not taking our oil back -- he's stealing from the Venezuelan people.
At his side was pep squad leader Lindsey Graham. You know, Lindsey, right? The gay man hiding in the closet. Laura Loomer said it. She wasn't the first to say it.
Our professional bachelor turns 71 later this year and he's never been married but refers to a foreigner who was a flight attendant as the great love of his life. The made up woman apparently loved being a flight attendant more than she loved Lindsey because she gave him up and not her job. Even in his made up, wack job stories, Lindsey can't satisfy a woman.
Here's GLAAD on the elderly closet case:
—10.11.20—Responds to LGBTQ voter asking about how his marriage to his husband and other LGBTQ rights will be defended, Sen. Graham defends people opposed to marriage equality as “not bigots” and “not neanderthals” and tells the voter, “I’ve tried to be tolerant.”
—10.12.20—Opens hastened confirmation hearings of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court with active COVID-19 infections among Judiciary Committee members. Chairman Graham refuses to take a COVID-19 test to ensure the safety of a debate with his challenger or the safety of the confirmation hearings. Sen. Graham had pledged in 2016 that Supreme Court nominations should not be made in an election year. Millions of Americans are early voting in the 2020 election, and polls show Americans want the winner of the 2020 election to nominate the next Supreme Court justice. Chairman Graham asks Barrett how landmark rulings like Obergefell could be overturned.
—10.14.20—In day three of the Barrett hearings, attempts to link the Court’s landmark marriage equality ruling to legalizing polygamy. Chairman Graham had also attempted this question and linkage in 2015.
—06.03.20—Signs brief to U.S. Supreme Court to defend taxpayer-funded agency’s right to discriminate against qualified same-sex couples looking to become foster parents, Fulton v. City of Philadelphia.
—03.15.19—Graham did not return a reporter’s request for comment regarding whether he, as head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, would allow consideration of the Equality Act, offering LGBTQ people protection against discrimination in areas like public accommodations, employment, housing, and credit.
—06.17.15—Co-sponsored the First Amendment Defense Act, which seeks to create an exemption to nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people by those citing a religious-based objection to marriage equality.
—01.28.15—While questioning Loretta Lynch during her attorney general nomination hearing, Graham compared same-sex marriage to polygamy. “What legal rationale would be in play that would prohibit polygamy?” he asked. “Could you try to articulate how one could be banned under the Constitution and the other not?”
—06.26.15—Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, Graham released a statement calling himself “a proud defender of traditional marriage” and stressing his support for “religious liberty.”
—01.29.13—Graham opposed adding same-sex couple protections to an immigration reform bill, saying it would cause bipartisan talks to fall apart.
—11.07.13—Graham voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would have prohibited employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
—06.26.13—When the Supreme Court ruled against DOMA, Graham expressed his disappointment in the decision, saying in a statement that he believed in “traditional marriage,” and noting he voted for the law, as well as wrote a brief to the Court expressing his desire to see it upheld. “One key point, today’s Supreme Court ruling will not change South Carolina law and I will continue to fight for and defend the traditional definition of marriage,” he added.
—12.18.10—Voted against allowing gay and bisexual people to openly serve in the military by opposing the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The Senate voted in favor of the repeal, with eight of Graham’s Republican colleagues voting to repeal the discriminatory policy.
—05.18.06—Voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution, and released a statement expressing his support of the legislation, claiming it was needed because, as he put it, “Traditional marriage is now under attack.”
—09.13.00—argued against federal hate crime legislation, saying it was not needed and that it would “divide Americans.”
—07.29.99—Voted in favor of an amendment to prohibit same-sex couples from adopting in Washington, D.C
—05.14.96—Graham co-sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), defining marriage as between a man and a woman, which was signed into law in 1996.
A 70 year old man hiding in the closet? How pathetic. And worse? He's used so much of his career to attack LGBTQ+ people in the hopes that people won't see the truth about him. Suck a dick, Lindsey, suck a dick.
"Before and after," Chump said. Remember? "Before and after," he was in contact with US oil companies. But not with the US Congress. Over the weekend, we noted various statements from members of Congress. We're going to note those again because we're working up to a point about leadership or the lack of it.
Today, Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) issued the following statement in reaction to U.S. military operations in Venezuela:
“Nicolás Maduro was a thug and an illegitimate leader of Venezuela, terrorizing and oppressing its people for far too long and forcing many to leave the country. But starting a war to remove Maduro doesn’t just continue Donald Trump’s trampling of the Constitution, it further erodes America’s standing on the world stage and risks our adversaries mirroring this brazen illegal escalation.
“For months, as the Trump administration massed American servicemembers and firepower in the Caribbean, and used military force to destroy vessels and kill those on board, I and others in the Senate forced bipartisan votes to stop the illegal misuse of our armed forces. We warned that the true motive was not drugs, but regime change in an oil-rich nation. Despite all of the administration’s false denials, those motivations are now clear.
“Acting without Congressional approval or the buy-in of the public, Trump risks plunging a hemisphere into chaos and has broken his promise to end wars instead of starting them. And in conjunction with his continued saber-rattling around the world and dropping approval ratings at home, the American people should be concerned that this is not the last time he will break that promise.
“The president has vowed that this is not the end of our engagement in Venezuela, saying that ‘we’ll be involved in it very much.’ Congress must bring up a new War Powers Resolution and reassert its power to authorize force or to refuse to do so. We must speak for the American people who profoundly reject being dragged into new wars.”
###
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement following President Trump's military action in Venezuela:
"President Trump’s unilateral military action to attack another country and seize Maduro — no matter how terrible a dictator he is — is unconstitutional and threatens to drag the U.S. into further conflicts in the region. What does it mean that the U.S. will ‘run’ Venezuela, and what will Trump do next around the world? The American people voted for lower costs, not for Trump’s dangerous military adventurism overseas that won’t make the American people safer.”
###
US House Rep Jasmine Crockett put her statement out on video. She rightly notes in the video below we can all out Chump's actions without glorifying Maduro.
This is from Senator Patty Murray's office:
Senator Murray: “It is outrageous for a President who is tanking our economy here at home to suggest that the American taxpayer spend a fortune to ‘run’ another country while doing nothing to make life better in America. I opposed the war in Iraq from the outset—and the parallels here are glaring. I will similarly oppose any war in Venezuela. I refuse to put the lives of servicemembers at further risk, and I refuse to saddle our children with yet another costly war for no good reason.”
Washington, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, issued the following statement in response to President Trump unilaterally launching a regime change war in Venezuela, where he ordered strikes on multiple military targets in the country and seized Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela along with his wife Cilia Flores.
“The American people didn’t ask to start a war with Venezuela. They didn’t ask for an indefinite and costly occupation of another country and they didn’t ask for ‘boots on the ground,’ their sons and daughters put in harm’s way. All they asked for were lower prices at the grocery store. Only Congress can authorize war and I absolutely will not support a large-scale military conflict in Venezuela or a dangerous and expensive occupation. What the President has done is unconstitutional, reckless, and will have far-reaching effects well beyond last night’s strikes.
“The President has provided no legitimate justification for
these unauthorized strikes nor any kind of long-term strategy for how he
will deal with the fallout of this slapdash regime change—and he must
now explain his unhinged statements that we will ‘run’ Venezuela. The
American people can see for themselves how dishonest and cynical this
entire venture is—we’re supposed to believe drug trafficking warrants
the use of military force to topple a foreign government in one instance
and then merits a full pardon for the former President of Honduras who
was lawfully convicted of the same crime? And we should all be eyes wide
open about the potential for self-enrichment and corruption by the
Trump administration when it comes to profiting off Venezuela’s oil.
This is not about law and order, because if it were, Trump wouldn’t have
withheld these plans from Congress, and it is not about actually
helping Americans suffering from drug addiction.
“Maduro is a
corrupt and oppressive dictator—that much has always been clear. But
what stops China or Russia from making similar claims about foreign
leaders they don’t like and then using military force to overthrow them?
This kind of careless use of military force threatens serious global
instability—and none of that is good for Americans here at home.
“There needs to be serious oversight and accountability here. Trump administration officials must come before Congress and publicly explain their rationale and—importantly—just what exactly they think happens next here. Republican leaders should not just shrug their shoulders and let the President bomb whoever he wants on hardly more than a whim—they must join Democrats in pressing for serious accountability and insisting that the use of military force be authorized by Congress.
“If this escalates into a prolonged conflict of any sort, you can bet it won’t be Trump’s family putting their lives on the line—the American people do not want to be dragged into another costly foreign war with no real justification. It is outrageous for a President who is tanking our economy here at home to suggest that the American taxpayer spend a fortune to ‘run’ another country while doing nothing to make life better in America. I opposed the war in Iraq from the outset—and the parallels here are glaring. I will similarly oppose any war in Venezuela. I refuse to put the lives of servicemembers at further risk, and I refuse to saddle our children with yet another costly war for no good reason.”
###
And this is from Senator Cory Booker's office:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement:
Today, many leaders will rightly condemn President Donald Trump’s unlawful and unjust actions in Venezuela, and I join them.
But just as glaring, and far more damning, is Congress’ ongoing abdication of its constitutional duty. For almost a year now, the legislative branch has failed to check a president who repeatedly violates his oath, disregards the law, and endangers American interests at home and abroad.
Time and again, Congress, now led by Republicans, has chosen spineless complicity over its sworn responsibilities. From the reckless leaking of classified information that put American troops at risk, to the illegal use of military force destroying vessels and killing people in the Caribbean and the Pacific without congressional authorization, there has been a stunning absence of accountability.
No hearings.
No serious investigations.
No enforcement of checks and balances.
No accountability.
Again and again, the president has exceeded his authority, defied congressional intent, trampled the separation of powers, and broken the law - while Congress looked away in cowardice and submission.
Republicans in Congress own this corrosive collapse of our constitutional order. With only a handful of honorable exceptions, they have bent themselves to the will of Donald Trump, afraid to state in public the feelings they often communicate privately. That submission, this abandonment of independent judgment and constitutional courage, now stands as one of the greatest dangers to our nation and to the global order America claims to defend.
Nicolás Maduro is a brutal dictator who has committed grave abuses. The United States military remains the most capable fighting force on Earth, and our praiseworthy service members carry out their orders with professionalism and excellence.
But none of that suspends the Constitution.
The Constitution is unambiguous: Congress has the power and responsibility to authorize the use of military force and declare war. Congress has a duty of oversight. Congress must serve as a check, not a rubber stamp, to the President. On this count, Congress has failed.
We face an authoritarian-minded president who acts with dangerous growing impunity. He has shown a willingness to defy court orders, violate the law, ignore congressional intent, and shred basic norms of decency and democracy. This pattern will continue unless the Article I branch of government, especially Republican congressional leadership, finds the courage to act.
They must stop behaving as partisan puppets and start acting as patriotic constitutional stewards.
What happened today is wrong. Congressional Republicans would say so immediately if a Democratic president had done the same. Their silence is surrender. And in that surrender lie the seeds of our democratic unraveling.
There are still three years left in this administration. From the pardoning of individuals who violently attacked police officers while attempting to overturn our election to this latest extrajudicial assault on another nation’s sovereignty, the damage will continue unless it is confronted.
Enough is enough.
Congress has failed. But it is not too late to redeem the harm done by a year of submission and silence. Congress must act now. It must reassert its constitutional authority, restore the rule of law, and stop this president before further injury is done to our democracy and our republic.
And I am sure there are many, many more Go to the Minority Leader of the House's website and you'll find this:
Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries issued the following statement:
Nicolas Maduro is a criminal and authoritarian dictator who has
oppressed the people of Venezuela for years. He is not the legitimate
head of government. Undoubtedly, the rule of law and democracy have
broken down in Venezuela and the people of that country deserve better.
Donald
Trump has the constitutional responsibility to follow the law and
protect democratic norms in the United States. That is what putting
America First requires.
The Trump administration has not sought
congressional authorization for the use of military force and has failed
to properly notify Congress in advance of the operation in Venezuela.
The promotion of security and stability in a region requires more than
just military force as we painfully discovered in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Far
too many questions remain unanswered, including with respect to whether
further military actions are planned. First, how many American troops
remain on the ground in Venezuela? Second, what does America is going to
run Venezuela until a judicious transition takes place mean? Third,
were these military strikes about seizing foreign oil to benefit friends
of the Trump administration? Fourth, why did Donald Trump pardon the
former Honduran President, a narco trafficker convicted in an American
court of law, but is willing to take us to war in Venezuela in
connection with similar allegations?
Pursuant to the
Constitution, the framers gave Congress the sole power to declare war as
the branch of government closest to the American people. The House and
Senate must be briefed immediately and compelling evidence to explain
and justify this unauthorized use of military force should be presented
forthwith.
###
But you know where you won't find a statement? The Senate Minority Leader's site. Go to Chuck Schumer's site right now and Venezuela wasn't invaded, Nothing happened. In fact, nothing happened in the country since December 15th when his office issued "SCHUMER ANNOUNCES WHOLE MILK FOR HEALTHY KIDS ACT HAS PASSED CONGRESS & IS ON ITS WAY TO BECOMING LAW TO BRING MORE MILK FROM UPSTATE NY DAIRY FARMS TO SCHOOL CAFETERIAS ACROSS AMERICA." That's not leadership.
21 days and he's issued nothing while holding the title of Democratic Party leader of the Senate. He needs to step down. He's repeatedly failed as a leader and he can't even do the bare minimum. 'I don't like him' or "he doesn't do enough for Gaza' are the sort of whines the ineffective on the left offer for Schumer. The reality is, he's not leading. Forget what the issue is, he's not leading. He wants the year book credit but he doesn't want to do the work. And that's why he needs to be forced aside and retired from leadership. He's worthless and he's been that way for a long, long time. It has nothing to do with whatever your pet issue of the moment is. It has to do that throughout 2025, from one crisis to another, he never offered leadership and he never stood up. Now, I'm not calling for him to step down from the Senate. The voters can decide when that needs to happen. I am saying he needs to be kicked out of leadership immediately. He's been coward through 2025 and that enabled Chump, tht allowed him to get away with so much. It's time for real leadership and that's not Chuck.
The day after the United States carried out an illegal military attack on Venezuela and kidnapped its president, Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration unleashed a torrent of threats against countries on every inhabited continent, targeting not only Latin America, but North America, Europe and Asia.
In remarks to The Atlantic on Sunday, President Trump threatened Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who was sworn in as acting president on Saturday, with a fate “worse” than that of Maduro.
“If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price,” Trump said. “Probably bigger than Maduro.”
Trump’s threat against Rodríguez came just hours after he had claimed at Saturday’s press conference that she had agreed to cooperate with US demands. Her public statements have been defiant, denouncing the US operation as “a barbarity” and calling Maduro Venezuela’s “only president.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” suggested that Cuba would be the next target of US military operations.
When asked whether Cuba was the Trump administration’s “next target,” Rubio replied: “The Cuban government is a huge problem.” Pressed again, he said: “They are in a lot of trouble, yes.”
Trump went even further, renewing his threat to annex Greenland, a territory of Denmark and a NATO ally of the United States.
For those paying attention, this is how world wars begin. And it's why you don't put an unemployable TV 'personality' into the White House. AFP notes:
The prime minister of Denmark on Sunday called on President Trump to "stop the threats" about taking over Greenland after the U.S. president reiterated his wish to take over the Danish territory.
Since returning to White House a year ago, Mr. Trump has repeatedly claimed that making Greenland part of the United States would serve U.S. national security interests, given its strategic location in the Arctic. Greenland is also rich in key critical minerals used in high-tech sectors.
In an interview with The Atlantic magazine published Sunday, Mr. Trump reiterated his wish to take over Greenland.
"We do need Greenland, absolutely. We need it for defense," he told the magazine.
Later that night, Mr. Trump again told reporters aboard Air Force One, "We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it."
Like Hitler, Chump's not buttered by rule of law and certainly not by international law. He's a blood thirsty dictator suffering from dementia on a holy tear and the world has to stand up to him. Again, there's no legal basis for what he did. What he ordered the US military to do was illegal. Joel Abrams (THE CONVERSATION) explains:
The legitimacy of the Maduro regime has also been called into question. There were disputed election outcomes in 2018 and 2024.
However, the legitimacy or otherwise of the Maduro regime is not a legal basis for a military intervention.
Rather, the Trump administration is relying on US domestic laws to justify its actions in Venezuela. A 2020 US grand jury indictment of Maduro and his wife for drug trafficking underpins the legal argument.
At THE NEW YORK TIMES, David E. Sanger and Tyler Pager examine what this all means:
Mr. Trump’s actions on Saturday cast America back to a past era of gunboat diplomacy, when the United States used its military to grab territory and resources for its own benefit.
A year ago this week, he openly mused, also at Mar-a-Lago, about making Canada, Greenland and Panama parts of the United States. Now, after hanging in the White House a portrait of William McKinley, the tariff-loving president who presided over the military seizure of the Philippines, Guam and Puerto Rico, Mr. Trump said it was well within the rights of the United States to wrest from Venezuela resources that he believes had been wrongly taken from the hands of American corporations.
The U.S. operation, in seeking to assert control over a vast Latin American nation, has little precedent in recent decades, recalling the imperial U.S. military efforts of the 19th and early 20th centuries in Mexico, Nicaragua and other countries.
Mr. Trump and his aides claimed they had a legal basis for the immediate action he ordered on Friday, the extraterritorial rendition of Mr. Maduro. An indictment that dates to 2020 charged the Venezuelan leader with a series of acts related to drug trafficking. A refreshed indictment was published Saturday, one that included Mr. Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores.
But that indictment only deals with Mr. Maduro’s alleged crimes. It did not provide a legal basis for taking control of the country, as the U.S. president declared he was
Hitler started with Austria, Chump started with Venezuela.
I'd hoped to include Epstein news but we're already running long.
For those who did take a long weekend, 2025 end of the year pieces that went up last week include Rebecca's "hottest men of 2025," Ann's "2025 in films" and Stan's "2025 in films," Mike's "Idiot of the Year," Martha & Shirley's "2025 in books (Martha & Shirley)," Kat's "Kat's Korner: 2025 in music," Ruth's "Ruth's Media Report 2025," Ava and my "Media: The best and the worst of TV showed up in December" and my "2025: The Year Of The Jig Is Up."
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