Texan oil pipeline billionaire behind €30m investment in Waterford airport

Why did Trump pick Jeff Landry for his second Greenland flunky, anyway? Bc LA was acquired by purchase?

Bari Weiss's Free Press website ran this screed by Matt Taibbi defending his lawsuit against a book author. But the Free Press apparently never reached out to the author. Even though Weiss spiked that 60 Minutes piece for not reaching out to enough Trump officials www.thefp.com/p/matt-taibb...

I've watched thousands of videos from the Jan. 6 riot as part of NPR's reporting and archive project on that day. Here are some of the lesser known videos that have really stuck with me. 🧵

For five years running, the first criminal docket of the year in DC has been a Jan6er. 2022: Dan Shaw 2023: Paul Modrell 2024: Christopher Keniley 2025: Timothy DesJardins 2026: Brian Cole FIVE YEARS of crimes Trump inspired. www.courtlistener.com/docket/72099...

Note that some of the fraud in MN was discovered by HHS IG, and HHS and SBA IGs were fired at a time when GOP was celebrating the latter predicting he'd find $200B more COVID related fraud. www.emptywheel.net/2025/02/12/t...

One thing hidden in the (New Year's Eve dump of the) Jack Smith deposition is that Jim Jordan called Trump on January 6 because Mark Meadows had never known him to be scared before. www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/01/j...

And there was at least a chance Cheney could have pulled Iraq off. There's so much obviously flawed in Trump's plans here, and THIS generation of Heritage interns are even less competent than the ones who fucked up Iraq.

Why don’t they ever explain that documents tying Hernandez to drug trafficking and money laundering were unsealed in 2019, by Trump’s DOJ? When they answer “I don’t have the facts” give them the facts.

I'll repeat, again, that there's little reason to think the indictment itself would fail (whether Barry Pollack succeeds with an immunity/arrest challenge is another issue). Maduro's co-conspirator pled guilty in June, so DOJ has to do little more than tie Maduro to his actions.

Why does it matter that Nicolás #Maduro told a US judge he’s still president of #Venezuela? International law prohibits prosecution of a sitting head of state in another country’s courts. @keitnerlaw.com explains head of state immunity and the Maduro case: www.justsecurity.org/128073/head-...

I do not understand this perspective. It totally ignores the fact that Trump himself destroyed the pesky western democratic order. Why does Putin care that he lost Maduro when he has the US as an ally in his autocratic struggle?

1. Hundreds of corps that pledged to stop donating to members of Congress who voted to overturn the election on 1/6/21 have broken their promise over the last 5 years But we've identified 10 promise keepers: Farmers Airbnb Expedia Nike Clorox Eversource Energy Holland & Hart Qurate Whirlpool Lyft

January 6 Was a Violent Insurrection; It Was Also a Fraud Against the GOP Faithful www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/06/j...

This is on day 3, when things look successful. 80% is low for Trump on most issues, and it's where he started on other issues that have badly gone south for him, like Epstein.

Just saw this in LinkedIn for anyone interested in looking into Grok's production of CSAM and non-consensual sexualised imagery. www.linkedin.com/posts/mtechl...

Trump: We will subjugate the world w/tariffs. China: No rare earths for you! No markets for soy farmers! Trump: We must subjugate Venezuela for rare earths! Oil companies will pay! Exxon: Um, no we won't! Trump: We must pay the oil companies to occupy Venezuela for their rare earths! Soy farmers: ?

Exactly. And why do they think Rodriguez can stay safe w/o a Cuban guard if Cabello (who has been indicted alongside Maduro since 2020) finds her too complacent?

It'd genuinely be useful for LAins w/some time and a camera to go get some video to demonstrate Stephen's breeding partner's inferior intelligence.

If you're Delcy Rodriguez, is Diosdado Cabello or Stephen Miller a more imminent threat? If you've taken out the Cuban unit protecting Maduro, who will keep her safe from rivals and the people?

"The reported demise of the GOP’s hawks and neocons has always been exaggerated. Many still populate Trump’s foreign policy team, up to the cabinet level, most prominently Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio." -- @mpaarlberg.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/internationa...

Believing that Venezuela is an island is the same kind of mindset that leads you to believe you can impose big tariffs on coffee and bananas. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NiB...

Here's Stephen Miller bragging about having encircled the "island" of Venezuela. I don't doubt there have been US covert forces on its land border, but even I have seen reporting abt stuff going down on the border w/Colombia. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NiB...

How the Deep State Taught Stephen Miller to Love Socialism www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/06/h...

In that batshit insane interview? Stephen Miller repeatedly (after 4:15) calls Venezuela an island. I don't rule out that Miller doesn't know the difference between Venezuela and Greenland. edition.cnn.com/2026/01/05/p...

The White House has been horny to send Stephen Miller onto CNN for a month. And I **really** do not think this helped them, at all. If nothing else it should make Miami exceedingly alarmed.

What happens when right wing white men are given DEI jobs.

Note I laid this out a day before NYT did, with details. The important detail is that the TdA allegations in the indictment (and the Zetas and the Sinaloa ones) are flimsy -- the latter goes thru Maduro associate who pled guilty last year.

Not mentioned of course is that Stephen Miller has ordered up what are murders even by US law. What stops Colombia from snatching him to put him on trial, particularly given that Trump plans to invade anyway?

In Moscow, grudging recognition that Trump has successfully pulled off the decapitation operation in Caracas that Putin and Gerasimov has planned in Kyiv. But a sense that this means more than ever before that Ukraine is to come to Russia as part of the "grand bargain" with Trump.

three bylines, six months late, almost zero new information we hadn't reported months ago. lowercased our name and mentioned deep in the story. no link to us. said they couldnt find the govt privacy document (we did). good job wall street journal

It was a law enforcement operation so Senate Judiciary Committee members were ... excluded from the briefing:

Even ignoring the reasons that SDNY is unlikely to fuck up the Maduro prosecution (they've prosecuted the underlying people, they haven't been as corrupted as badly as DC or EDVA, they've done tons of these), bc of the CIPA issues it'll be years before this goes to trial.

Best thing I’ve read this morning, from a human rights lawyer in Mexico. Translation is in the ALT-text.

Jamel Semper rules that the third charge against LaMonica McIver ALSO was not covered by legislative immunity bc he did not initiate it. A fairly terrifying ruling. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Here's a good profile of Alvin Hellerstein, the 92-yo judge who has been presiding over the Maduro (and predecessor) cases since 2011. www.politico.com/news/2026/01...

Before Trump invaded Venezuela, I wrote a long post on things we (me!) should do in 2026. Partly, it's about using the foundation laid by the Epstein files to focus on OTHER corrupt oligarchs Trump is protecting. It's also about making some things more visible. www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/02/w...

Congrats to interim head coach Marco Rubio

FWIW, I'm very interested in the timing of this decision, bc Trump was whining again abt obeying unlawful orders in recent days (it all blurs into one Truth Social rant). So it may be Whiskey Pete told him there'd be no courtmartial and Trump had his hissy fit as a result.

Venezuela was on my list of six important stories I'll be tracking in 2026, written several days ago. After this weekend I moved it to the top. But there's lots to set the table for: the midterms, AI, economic push and pull, the MAGA break with Trump, and more. prospect.org/2026/01/05/2...

What in the Gestapo is going on in Grand Rapids? Watch this activist get arrested *mid-interview* for speaking out against U.S. action in Venezuela.

I love @seancasten.bsky.social's energy-splaining threads.

Reup: My post on the differences between the 2020 and 2025 Maduro indictments. Of note, 2025 includes flimsy claims about TdA, which Stephen Miller will use to renew his AEA claims. Also, far less attention to democratic legitimacy in 2025 one. www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/04/d...

I'm no expert on Venezuela, but remember that Minister of Interior, Diosdado Cabello, has his a considerable power base, and was indicted in both the Maduro indictments.

Barry Pollack is a very good defense attorney, with lots of experience on international issues (including with Assange).

Bc some are asking, reupping my comment abt machine gun charges. They're not surprising charges, & there are overt acts abt trading weapons to FARC for cocaine in indictments. Maduro's co-conspirator pled to them in June, AFTER SCOTUS' bump stock ruling. But Maduro will surely challenge them.

Folks, there's little reason to believe DOJ will fuck THIS up. There's an experienced team of real AUSAs who've been working these cases for years (and got Maduro's key deputy to plead in June). SDNY is not as incompetent as DC, yet. SDNY/EDNY have done cases like this a lot.

How to calm political violence, according to psychologists. New, in the APA Monitor, with comments from a bunch of us. www.apa.org/monitor/2026...

Cilia Maduro has lawyered up. No sign of who gets the harder job, yet. Also there's a new, fairly young but white shoe, AUSA who joined the team that has been working this case for years.

Here are Andrew Solender's last three stories, for those of you who remain unaware that a big part of his clickbait is to ragebait YOU, which apparently works every single time.