Month: January 2026

It is well-known that Donald Trump would like to be awarded the Nobel Peace prize. It seems unlikely to me.

This from Newsweek:

The chances of President Donald Trump winning the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize are “quickly decreasing,” a major bookmaker has told Newsweek.”

The odds against Trump have worsened following America’s capture of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and the White House’s continued push to take over Greenland.

  

I am certainly not on the committee that decides the winner or privy to its deliberations. But I think the war crimes and killings might be factors in not winning.

For a peace prize I think our President might have settle for soccer’s FIFA Peace Prize

A Minnesota women was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent. The agency claims it was in self-defense as the women was trying to run over the agent, the President said she was badly behaved and ran over the agent.

Publically available video does not seem to show that. So we have 3 different accounts of how this happened.

My first reaction was there needed to be an independent investigation since there may be other videos, witnesses and facts that were not immediately known. This could explain the discrepancies. However, this does not seem possible since the homeland security secretary is denying Minnesota authorities evidence.

Since there have been multiple shootings by ICE agents across the county and self-defense is sometimes claimed, I think all of these shootings should be investigated by Homeland Security as well as local authorities. Where Homeland Security and local authorities disagree an independent group is probably appropriate . How to choose this group would be a matter between Homeland Security and the local authorities.

Why did the United States invade Venezuela? Several reasons have been presented.

• Law enforcement
• We want the oil
• Regime change
• Self defense related to the flow of illegal drugs (fentanyl or cocaine) which are killing Americans
• We want “run” Venezuela

   

This is what I think:

• If the rationale was protecting law enforcement: Why was Maduro in military custody until it was almost time for court? Why were only Maduro and his wife taken into custody when others in the Maduro government were also indicted?
• If the rationale was regime change why should the US “run” things why keep the Maduro government in power (without Maduro). It would make much more sense to allow the winner for the last election and the opposition to take control.
• Self-defense is the most absurd rationale. At first the US was protecting its people from fentanyl until the administration realized that little or no fentanyl was coming from Venezuela. Then it switched to saving us from cocaine (although from what I read relatively little cocaine was coming from Venezuela). But defending us from cocaine made no sense since President Trump had recently pardoned former President Hernández of Honduras who was convicted of trafficking more than 400 tons cocaine to the US.

   
I think President Trump invaded Venezuela for the oil and believed he can run things and force what remains of the Maduro government to help him get the oil he wants. It may also be related to distracting from current issues such as the release (or non-release) of the Epstein files or the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection.