We're Not Talking About It

Plus: Law and order in Philly, SCOTUS audience, Ackman drops some dough, and more...

"We're not talking about" regime change in Venezuela, President Donald Trump told reporters back in August. "I can only say that billions of dollars of drugs are pouring into our country from Venezuela," and that "a very strange election" put Nicolas Maduro in office, "to put it mildly."

"What I can tell you is Maduro is a narco-terrorist," said Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has placed a $50 million bounty on Maduro's head, wanting him to face charges in the U.S.

Earlier this week, another six suspected narco-traffickers were killed in a strike ordered by Trump on a boat in the Caribbean suspected of carrying drugs. This brings the total number killed up to 27.

"Trump is truly aghast at how Maduro savaged the economy of a once-vibrant Venezuela," reports Nahal Toosi in Politico, mentioning how Trump appears to "genuinely dislike" Venezuela's president.

But Trump isn't just satisfied with strikes on boats. Yesterday, news broke that he secretly authorized the CIA to take some sort of action in Venezuela, the details of which aren't clear and haven't been confirmed. There's also been some repositioning of ships starting this past August. Never one to keep his mouth shut, Trump told reporters a bit about his plans: "We are certainly looking at land now, because we've got the sea very well under control," he told reporters.

At this point, "the scale of the military buildup in the region is substantial: There are currently 10,000 U.S. troops there, most of them at bases in Puerto Rico, but also a contingent of Marines on amphibious assault ships," reports The New York Times. "In all, the Navy has eight surface warships and a submarine in the Caribbean."

"Why did you authorize the CIA to go into Venezuela?" a reporter asked Trump yesterday. "They have emptied their prisons into the United States of America," responded the president, in what sure looks like him soft-launching the idea that an invasion would be warranted.

Maduro, for his part, announced that he would mobilize 4.5 million members of the Bolivarian Militia, which is a civilian force that's undergone military training, to support the official military, which has been placed on high alert.

If Maduro wants to be treated like a legit head of state, not the leader of a cartel, he isn't helping his own case:

Absolute HORROR- young Venezuelan activists @LuisPecheVE and @yendrive were shot at more than 10 times in what looks like a hit job in Bogota, where they are exiled. This would be the latest case of Maduro targeting dissidents abroad.

— Germania Rodriguez Poleo (@iamGermania) October 13, 2025

Nor is he interested in entertaining diplomatic pathways:

Appears a US deportation flight heading to Caracas turned back just before landing earlier this morning.

— Stephen Gibbs (@STHGibbs) October 15, 2025

One possible theory: This deportation flight was denied landing and turned around, possibly as retribution for Trump's choosing to strike the boats in the Caribbean. Maduro is making clear he's not interested in talking, and that he wants leverage.

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Scenes from New York: This was amusingly a scene from Philly that some Brooklyn leftist imbecile seized on and assumed was…city hall in Manhattan (since the whole world revolves around NYC, donchaknow). Now, the discourse has swirled around fare evasion in both cities and the degree to which the leftist mindset is just totally tolerant of public disorder and blatant theft.

boy i sure do love exiting subway stations through the emergency exit door! unfortunately i am a very slow walker and easily distracted so sometimes i look up from my phone and find that i've been holding the door open for a minute or more without even realizing it https://t.co/fCQAyN5ANm

— antifa????girlfriend (@lllliatttt) October 14, 2025

It's just totally taken as a given in these lefty circles that all the people and entities actually paying all the taxes are not paying any taxes https://t.co/qebrM563AO

— wanye (@xwanyex) October 16, 2025

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QUICK HITS

• "President Donald Trump said he might go to the Supreme Court to personally watch oral arguments on whether the bulk of his tariffs pass legal muster, in what would be a highly unusual spectacle," reports Bloomberg. "'I think I'm going to go to the Supreme Court to watch it,' Trump told reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office. 'I've not done that, and I had some pretty big cases. I think it's one of the most important cases ever brought, because we will be defenseless against the world.' The Supreme Court will hear arguments Nov. 5 over whether import taxes affecting trillions of dollars in international commerce imposed by Trump are legal. The president has said the tariffs are authorized under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law that gives the president a panoply of tools to address national security, foreign policy and economic emergencies."
• "The Trump administration is considering a radical overhaul of the U.S. refugee system that would slash the program to its bare bones while giving preference to English speakers, white South Africans and Europeans who oppose migration," per a New York Times report. "The proposed changes would put new emphasis on whether applicants would be able to assimilate into the United States, directing them to take classes on 'American history and values' and 'respect for cultural norms.' The proposals also advise Mr. Trump to prioritize Europeans who have been 'targeted for peaceful expression of views online such as opposition to mass migration or support for "populist" political parties.'"
• Bill Ackman—aka my new favorite person—just donated $1 million to a super PAC opposing Zohran Mamdani's mayoral bid.
• Truly:

OpenAI is an amazing company and these are impressive numbers … and also a company losing $20 billion a year with $13b in revenue, making business deals that project hundreds of billions in future spending, with a private valuation of $0.5 trillion, is mental.

(Everybody in… https://t.co/jLTVPcMd3g

— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) October 15, 2025