piracy

Doing “Things”


POST 1245

Preface: Nearly all of this post was written prior to the American invasion and kidnapping done in Venezuela yesterday. Consequently, there are just a few comments about that particular dog wagging and lawbreaking included here. We will do a deeper dive soon. Meanwhile, keep your eye on the prize.

Click me for the story by The Onion. My preferred caption for all of the posed pictures of Trump signing an executive order is, “Look! Look! I made a boom-boom!”

We the People are an endlessly clever and creative band and we relentlessly ridicule those who have earned and richly deserve our contempt and shaming. The year just past provided non-stop material for satire and verbal punches in the nose to our national abusers of decency, the law, the Constitution and even rational thinking. A few favorites are sprinkled in this post.

First, though, please accept my thanks for reading these posts and sometimes commenting on them. We all can do our part in this war to stop fascism, to protect and defend our Constitution, our democracy and our way of life and to restore decency to its place at the forefront of our cherished values. These posts are part of my modest effort to do just that. Indeed, when you see a message in these posts encouraging you to share them and to encourage others to subscribe (one more time: it is still and will remain a freebie!) it’s for the purpose of stretching the reach of the message from those of us who think democracy is a pretty good thing worthy of our collective moral muscle, to those who need our encouragement.

This particular post is less my words than direction to the brilliance of others. We start with the year end post of Prof. Heather Cox Richardson.

Click me

She brings context and points a finger at the guilty responsible for so many deeply destructive, anti-Constitutional and outright illegal things that have happened since January 20. Most examples are blood boilers, preludes to full-on fascism, but some really good stuff happened, too, like judicial decisions that pinned Trump’s ears back. Those are fun.

Many commentaries are persuasive, yet most often we’re left not knowing what to do to make the change we want to come about. Turns out some people can help fill that “huh?” hole.

For example, Robert Reich published 10 Crucial Things You Can Do in 2026 and it’s a really good list. You’ll know how to do every one of those “things”.

Here’s one of my “things”.

Are you on the fence about mean girl puppy murderer and poser in front of men illegally jammed into a torture prison at her direction, Christie Noem? Should she be removed from her post as Secretary of Homeland Security?

First, Watch this little video of Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (IL-3) as she skewers Noem by detailing her lies, her law breaking and her joyful cruelty. Then decide a proper fate for her.

Next, call your representative and senators and demand that they oust this talent-less Eva Braun by means of a humiliating impeachment. That’s a “thing” you can do.

Now Some Bitter, Well-Earned Congratulations:

Watch and listen to Jesse Welles’ message about recruiting ICE thugs. If you want more to make you think, click here.

– to the many millions of Americans who voted for Trump and who have lost their Obamacare subsidy so that their healthcare insurance now costs more than double what it cost last week. That will make it completely impossible for millions to get insurance at all and they will be relegated like so many to only the hospital emergency room for healthcare, including for their children. Millions of them live in red states and they didn’t vote for this to happen.

– to the hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens and legal residents who have been unjustly thrown to the ground, handcuffed, their faces mashed into the pavement, thrown into unmarked vans and either imprisoned or deported, all without an arrest warrant or even reasonable suspicion of any wrongdoing. It sucks to be an American with fascists in power and only the sociopaths voted for this.

– to the millions of kids who now go hungry because of the cruel withholding of SNAP benefits, a huge proportion of which used to go to families in red states. Again, they voted for Trump, but they didn’t vote for this to happen.

Grifting with Jesus

– to all the dozens of Venezuelans who have been illegally murdered at sea and now on land, but who were never formally accused of, incarcerated for, convicted of or sentenced for any crime.

– to all of us for our windfall benefit created by Trump’s piracy at sea of at least two oil super tankers filled with Venezuelan oil.

– to the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who have died of starvation or lack of inexpensive medicines because Trump ended the USAID program.

– to all of us for the blatant crushing under heel of the First Amendment on Christmas day by Trump and various departments of what’s left of our government. “If lawmakers could destroy the right of freedom of conscience, they could destroy all other unalienable rights. Those in charge of government could throw representative government out the window and make themselves tyrants.” Read Heather Cox Richardson for this sad story.

Maybe you’d prefer an upside down Bible from the steps of St. John’s Church.

– to the terrorist cult of MAGA for its cheering Trump auctioning off a hastily painted Jesus, where he announced through his actions yet again that there is no bottom. There is nothing so undignified, so clownishly demeaning of our country that Trump will refuse the opportunity to grab it by its septic tank and tarnish our nation before the world.

– to Merrick Garland and his timid DOJ for epic, even galactic foot dragging, thereby refusing to enforce our laws. That allowed Trump to run in and win the 2024 election. See William A. Finnegan’s take down of what happened. This story will gnarl your innards yet again over the DOJ cowardice that enabled the current, ongoing destruction of our Constitution and blatant lawlessness, every bit as much as our lap dog Republican Congress has enabled that through the same cowardice.

Yes, really

– to the people of Venezuela for losing their country to Donald Trump. He’s made it clear that he admires and wants to be like Vladimir Putin, invading a sovereign nation, bombing facilities and killing its citizens. Trump has gone even farther by kidnapping its leader. Now he’s just like Putin. Maybe worse.

NOTE: Don’t be distracted. This invasion and kidnapping have nothing to do with drugs, democracy, elections or how bad or how illegitimate is Maduro as president of Venezuela. It is about the massive reserves of oil beneath that country and what that’s worth to Trump. That’s why we’ll “run the country.” Plus it’s a first step toward domination of all of South America and maybe Greenland, because Trump desperately needs to show what a strongman he is.

– finally, congratulations to us, for our dog being wagged relentlessly by yet another illegal Trump military distraction. But We The People will not let the Epstein scandal go away and Trump will get what he is due.

You know that this congratulatory list could be very long and you understand the sarcasm. You get that we cannot – we must not – tolerate more of this, which means that you and I must take action because our dire circumstances have become worse. Whatever you and I are doing, it isn’t enough. This is a great and lasting task before us. But, what to do? Try this to jump start your engine:

  • I can’t vouch for the claimed connection to anyone named Van Gogh, but the message is clear and compelling. There is a blank page before us waiting for what’s next in our story of democracy and it is our honor to write that story.

I repeat: Whatever you and I are doing, it isn’t enough. But we can do “things” and keep on doing “things”.

Many, many thanks to all who step up, do “things” and carry a load for the sake of all of us.

  • Goes fast, doesn’t it?

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    Thanks!

    The Fine Print:

    1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
    2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
    3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
    4. Book links to Amazon or Barnes & Noble are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
    5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
    6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those I deem inappropriate.
    7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine. Unless it’s a guest essay, in which case, blame the guest.

    Click me

    JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

You’re A Pirate!


POST 1239

Yes You!

On September 2, 2025 the Secretary of Defense (he prefers “Secretary of War – it’s more chest poundingly tough guy sounding) Six Gun Pete Hegseth had a special day. It started with spotters finding a non-military open boat, apparently from Venezuela, in international waters. It was powered by engines commonly used for water skiing and was carrying 11 people. Six Gun Pete ordered the boat to be blown up, same as he had done to others over the prior weeks, killing nearly 90 people.

Without so much as a whiff of evidence he claimed that the boat had been  carrying illegal drugs. But even if there had been drugs:

  1. The boat hadn’t been headed for the United States, 1,200 miles away and traveling in a different direction, so the U.S. had no authority to intervene.
  2. The standard protocol for handling a situation where contraband is suspected is interdiction by the Coast Guard, not murder.

Nine of the 11 people aboard that small boat were killed by a U.S. missile. That left a vexing problem for the head of our “Department of War.” There were two survivors of that U.S. missile attack. They were clinging to floating parts of the destroyed boat and were, by any notion of reality, shipwrecked survivors. They were non-combatants completely unable to be a danger to anyone. Had there been illegal drugs on board their boat, they couldn’t have delivered them anywhere because they had no boat; just flotsam. They were harmless corks in the ocean, leaving Hegseth the task of deciding what to do with them. Maritime law said that they must be rescued.

Instead, our valiant War Czar made the brave call: “Kill them all!” he announced with manly vigor about people who had done no harm to the U.S. or to any Americans.

So, on Hegseth’s order, Admiral Frank “Mitch” Bradley issued the order to kill those two men bobbing in the ocean. Another missile was fired and they immediately stopped being survivors.

There was no longer a legal threat to Hegseth that would have arisen had they instead been rescued and brought to the United States for a pesky habeas corpus thing. That was good for Hegseth, because in a trial he would have had to produce evidence of drugs aboard that boat. He would have had to demonstrate that the drugs were bound for the veins of Americans. But Hegseth had no such evidence. His tough guy deception and lies could go unchallenged just by killing those 2 helpless guys bobbing like corks in the ocean. So, that’s what he did.

We were not and are not at war – at least we are not in a declared war or a war authorized by Congress. Clearly, then, the killing of those 11 people could not be acts of war. It was instead cold blooded murder, ordered by Six Gun Pete Hegseth.

We don’t know if the president ordered Hegseth to do that, but it seems more than likely that he did, since he always needs to appear to be the Tough-Guy-in-Chief. Wanton murder is one of the things that pirates do, but this story has become more blatantly criminal and more obviously a foul tale of piracy since September 2.

On December 10 your president ordered that an unarmed merchant oil tanker sailing from Venezuela be boarded and commandeered by U.S. forces. The ship was not bound for the U.S. and no evidence of materials that could be used to harm the U.S. has been presented as justification for the assault. Here’s where Trump’s official policy to pick a fight with Venezuela crosses from stupid into total piracy,

The president has announced that the ship will be sailed to a U.S. port and its cargo of 1.8 million barrels of oil with a market value of roughly $95 million will be taken. Stolen. Pirated. And Trump is threatening to steal yet more Venezuelan tankers.

That’s piracy by anyone’s definition, including that of hundreds of years of maritime law, the laws of the World Court and the laws of the United States. And because this is being done in your name,

You are now a pirate
and your Jolly Roger waves over the seas,
malevolently declaring American piracy and murder.
.

Wouldn’t piracy and murder fall under the definition of “high Crimes and Misdemeanors“?*

It was bad enough when V.P. Dick Cheney (or was it Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld?) announced in 2003 that we would steal Iraqi oil and that it would pay for our invasion of Iraq and reconstruction of that country. But the Chinese have controlled Iraqi oil since 2003 and it’s claimed that $150 billion has been stolen. It seems that we weren’t as good at piracy then as our genius leaders led us to believe. But we were quite adept at murder. We’re still good at that.

Now we have Trump’s larceny and murder going on. What could possibly go wrong?

Shiver me timbers, matey. And wag the dog.

UPDATE!

The federal judge’s order regarding the seizure warrant for the ship carrying Venezuelan oil was unsealed yesterday. It gives permission to Trump and his grifters to keep the spoils of their piracy. But it’s hard to know anything substantive about that, because the unsealed document is nearly completely redacted. Everything but the title page is blacked out. There’s no way to check any of the claims, nor the reasoning for the judicial decision. There’s nothing left that could benefit the American people.

From The Mercury:

A US court released a heavily redacted warrant on Friday that had authorized the seizure of an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, a move Caracas decried as an act of “international piracy” and “blatant theft”.

______________________________________________

* See Article II, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution.

Goes fast, doesn’t it?

Did someone forward this post to you? Welcome! Please subscribe – use the simple form above on the right. And pass this along to three others, encouraging them to subscribe, too. (IT’S A FREEBIE!) It’s going to take ALL OF US to get the job done.

And add your comments below to help us all to be better informed.

Thanks!

The Fine Print:

  1. Writings quoted or linked from my posts reflect a point I want to make, at least in part. That does not necessarily mean that I endorse or agree with everything in such writings.
  2. There are lots of smart, well-informed people. Sometimes we agree; sometimes we don’t. Search for others’ views and decide for yourself.
  3. Errors in fact, grammar, spelling and punctuation are all embarrassingly mine, but I do wish that I could blame someone else. Glad to have your corrections.
  4. Book links to Amazon or Barnes & Noble are provided for reference only. Please purchase your books through your local mom & pop bookstore. Keep them and your town or neighborhood vibrant.
  5. Clicking on most pics in these posts will take you to the source information.
  6. Comments offered by readers, whether in agreement with my opinions or opposing, are encouraged and greatly appreciated. All are reviewed prior to going live. I reserve the right to edit for readability, punctuation, typos, voluntary idiocy and to exclude those I deem inappropriate.
  7. Responsibility for the content of these posts is unequivocally, totally, unavoidably mine.

Click me

JA


Copyright 2026 by Jack Altschuler
Reproduction and sharing are encouraged, providing proper attribution is given.

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