Zero Hedge

"Maduro Can Get The F**k Out"; Venezuela 'Regime Change' Debate Gets Fiery

"Maduro Can Get The F**k Out"; Venezuela 'Regime Change' Debate Gets Fiery

Potentially on the cusp of another regime change war, last night ZeroHedge collaborated with The Matt Gaetz show to host a pointed debate on how Trump should handle the evil and corrupt Maduro regime—a familiar Washington storyline now resurfacing amid renewed sanctions pressure, significant U.S. military maneuvers, and Beltway think tank consensus.

The debate featured Curt Mills, Executive Director of The American Conservative, and Venezuelan opposition figure Emmanuel Rincon, moderated by former Congressman Matt Gaetz.

We strongly recommend the full hour-long debate, but here the highlights for those short of time:

The Venezuelan Chalabi

Mills warned that Washington is once again falling for a familiar con, comparing the case for regime change in Venezuela to the pre-Iraq War fantasy sold by exiles promising instant democracy if only the U.S. removes the “bad man” at the top.

“I suppose I’m debating the Venezuelan Ahmed Chalabi,” Mills said, noting that diaspora groups routinely make sweeping claims about what “the people on the street” believe and what the country will supposedly look like “the day after,” all while assuming they and their allies would be handed power.

The truth, he argued, is simpler and more damning: “We don’t know. And this is not the U.S.’s business.”

Context: Ahmed Chalabi—a wealthy Iraqi exile—was a pivotal figure in selling the Iraq War to U.S. neoconservatives, largely by feeding them what they most wanted to believe: that toppling Saddam would quickly yield a secular, pro-Western Iraqi democracy that would also normalize ties with Israel. Chalabi’s circle also supplied “crucial intelligence” about Iraqi weaponry that “almost all… turned out to be false,” helping justify the invasion and underpin the “liberators” fantasy.

Mills also took aim at the security rationale behind intervention, arguing that regime change is a wildly inefficient response to crime or drugs.

“The U.S. does not need to stop all crime everywhere,” he said, adding that protecting Americans can be achieved far more effectively through border enforcement and cooperation with law enforcement than through a war.

The real danger, he cautioned, is strategic self-harm: Venezuela risks becoming “the American Ukraine,” a war of choice that bogs the U.S. down and consumes an entire presidency.

Drug-Busting, Not Regime Change

The exchange turned on whether regime change could be sold as something short of war.

Emmanuel Rincon insisted that it could, arguing, “You’re not going to war against Venezuela. You are going to war against a drug cartel. It’s not the same.”

In Rincon’s telling, the scenario would not involve Venezuela’s military at all:

“You’re not going to have all the military of Venezuela going into a war with the United States. That is not going to happen.”

Mills dismissed that framing as semantic evasion.

“Like in World War II, they could argue that we weren’t going to war with Germany—we were going to war with the Nazi regime, with the SS,” he said. “But of course we’re going to war with Germany.”

Stripping away the euphemisms, Mills argued the same logic applies in Caracas:

“We would be going to war with Venezuela—the people that run Venezuela today.” 

Watch the full debate below because - while Tucker v Ben Shapiro drama may be stealing the show right now - how this Venezuela debate pans out within the Trump admin could put lives on the line… and very soon.

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/20/2025 - 16:55

Project Sunrise: Inside The $112BN Plan To Rebuild Gaza As 'High Tech Metropolis'

Project Sunrise: Inside The $112BN Plan To Rebuild Gaza As 'High Tech Metropolis'

Via The Cradle

US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have presented a $112 billion reconstruction plan to Gulf officials to build a “high-tech metropolis” atop the remains of Gaza, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The 32-page PowerPoint presentation labeled "sensitive" and titled "Project Sunrise" was developed over 45 days and reportedly presented to officials from Qatar, UAE, Egypt, and Turkiye. 

The plan envisions turning the Gaza Strip into a "high-tech metropolis" over the next two decades with four phases of reconstruction beginning in southern Gaza. It also calls for turning Rafah into Gaza's new "administrative center," housing over 500,000 residents.

However, the plan does not specify where two million Palestinians would be sheltered during the reconstruction period. Israel's blockade of shelter materials has left Palestinians sheltering in bombed-out buildings and tattered tents.

In early December, a severe winter storm caused over a dozen fatalities, including three infants who succumbed to exposure, and led to the collapse of several buildings. About 95 percent of Gaza's tent camps have flooded due to the heavy rain.

Witkoff and Kushner's reconstruction plan also proposes monetizing 70 percent of Gaza's coastline beginning in year ten of the project, a move officials hope would generate over "$55 billion in long-run investment returns for prospective investors."

Both Witkoff and Kushner come from prominent Jewish real estate families rooted in New York’s property sector, with careers built around large-scale, high-value developments and deep financial ties to Gulf sovereign wealth funds.

According to the proposal, the US would provide $60 billion in grants and loan guarantees to back new debt, with expectations that the project would become self-financing as local industry and the broader economy recover. The World Bank would also have a role in the project.

The proposal is contingent on Hamas demilitarizing and decommissioning all weapons and tunnels. This precondition is highlighted in bold red type on the second page of the slide deck.

Hamas officials recently offered to "bury" the group's weapons and hand over power to a Palestinian governing body.

However, Israel has blocked those efforts and refused the participation of nearly all Palestinian technocrats and bureaucrats who would be suited to govern Gaza.

Earlier this year, Trump proposed permanently relocating Gaza's Palestinian residents to transform the strip into a "Riviera of the Middle East," a plan rejected by several countries but welcomed by Israel's government.

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/20/2025 - 16:20

Bill Clinton Responds After Half-Naked Photos Appear In Latest Epstein Drop

Bill Clinton Responds After Half-Naked Photos Appear In Latest Epstein Drop

For months, Democrats have tried to weaponize the delayed release of the Epstein files against President Donald Trump, after Trump got all weird about releasing the files in February. In recent weeks, House Dems selectively leaked materials to suggest the delay meant Trump had something to hide, even though none of the photos or emails implicated him in Epstein's sex-trafficking (something the NY Times even admitted). And after enormous bipartisan pressure spearheaded by Rep. Thomas Massie and MTG, Trump finally signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law - requiring the release of 'all' the Epstein files no later than Friday. And while the DOJ only released 'about half' of what they were supposed to, they did offer a deeper peek into what was going on behind the scenes.

The first tranche of DOJ files released Friday include thousands of pages of material on Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, along with photos featuring high-profile figures such as Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Mick Jagger, Kevin Spacey, Chris Tucker, Sarah Ferguson, Prince Andrew, and Bill Gates.

While no major bombshells have surfaced yet, former President Bill Clinton is facing renewed scrutiny because of some of the photos in the latest release: him posing with Epstein in matching shirts, chatting up a dancer, and lounging on what appears to be a plane with a redacted woman on his lap. Clinton also appears at a dinner table with Mick Jagger, Epstein, and Maxwell.

One standout image captures Clinton in a pool or hot tub with an unidentified woman whose face the DOJ blacked out, indicating that the individual is a victim and/or underage, which was allowed by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Mr. Clinton is one of the few people whose faces were not redacted, along with Mr. Epstein himself and Ms. Maxwell. In posts on X after the release, a White House spokeswoman repeatedly pointed out photos of Mr. Clinton and argued that the news media did not want to focus on the images.

“Here is Bill Clinton in a hot tub next to someone whose identity has been redacted. Per the Epstein Files Transparency Act, DOJ was specifically instructed only to redact the faces of victims and/or minors. Time for the media to start asking real questions,” White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson wrote on her personal X account.

Meanwhile, Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are also seeking to force Bill and Hillary to give in-person depositions in their own investigation. On social media, Trump has claimed without evidence that Clinton and other Democrats spent “spent large portions of their life with Epstein, and on his ‘Island.’”

Unsurprisingly, the Clinton camp wasn’t happy about the latest drop. Angel Ureña, Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, posted an angry statement attacking the release on X. “The White House hasn't been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton. This is about shielding themselves from what comes next, or from what they'll try and hide forever. So they can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn't about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be. Even Susie Wiles said Donald Trump was wrong about Bill Clinton,” Ureña wrote. ”There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships with him after. We're in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that.”

Ureña concluded, “Everyone, especially MAGA, expects answers, not scapegoats.”

Clinton’s ties to Epstein have been well documented - having moved in the same elite circles as far back as the early 1990s, leaving behind a trail of photos over the years. Epstein and Maxwell visited the Clinton White House multiple times, and Maxwell later appeared at Chelsea Clinton’s 2010 wedding.

Clinton also flew on Epstein’s jet in the early 2000s for trips his team says were connected to Clinton Foundation work in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Clinton faces no criminal charges related to Epstein, and his representatives insist he did not know about Epstein’s crimes.

And of course, the MSM is pissed!

“The images and documents have been released without context or background information,” the New York Times writes. “It is unclear which photographs might have been taken by Mr. Epstein and which might have been sent to or acquired by him, or where many of them were taken. Justice Department officials have not said how they selected the particular tranche of documents that were released on Friday.”

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/20/2025 - 15:45

Fulton County Admits Certification Of 315K Potentially Unlawful Ballots In 2020

Fulton County Admits Certification Of 315K Potentially Unlawful Ballots In 2020

Authored by Luis Cornelio via Headline USA,

An attorney for Fulton County, Georgia admitted earlier this month that the county accepted roughly 315,000 early votes that were not lawfully certified in the 2020 presidential election. 

Attorney Ann Brumbaugh made the admission while representing the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections at a Dec. 9 hearing before the Georgia State Election Board, according to Wednesday’s reporting by The Federalist. 

The SEB hearing pertained to a complaint filed by election integrity activist David Cross, who accuses Fulton County of having violated Georgia law by counting early votes that were not properly signed off by election workers. 

As quoted by The Federalist, Brumbaugh told the board that Fulton County does “not dispute that the tapes were not signed.” 

She added, “It was a violation of the rule. We, since 2020, again, we have new leadership and a new building and a new board and a new standard operating procedures. And since then the training has been enhanced. … But … we don’t dispute the allegation from the 2020 election.” 

According to The Federalist: 

“Georgia’s Secretary of State Office investigated the alleged failure to sign tabluation [sic] tapes and ‘substantiated’ the findings that Fulton County ‘violated Official Election Record Document Processes when it was discovered that thirty-six (36) out of thirty-seven (37) Advanced Voting Precincts in Fulton County, Georgia failed to sign the Tabulation Tapes as required [by statute],’ according to a 2024 investigation summary. In addition to probing the unsigned tabulation tapes, the investigation also found that officials at 32 polling sites failed to verify their zero tapes.” 

The issue, as detailed by the outlet, is that Georgia statute orders election officials to print three “closing tapes” toward the end of each voting day.  

Doing so allows officials to officially end counting for the day and avoid votes from the previous day being overcounted. 

“These signed tapes are the sole legal certification that the reported totals are authentic,” Cross said during the SEB hearing.

“Fulton County produced zero signed tabulator tapes in early voting.” 

Cross reportedly uncovered the discrepancy through open records requests that cost him $15,800.  

“These are not clerical errors. They are catastrophic breaks in chain of custody and certification,” Cross said.

“Because no tape was ever legally certified, Fulton County had no lawful authority to certify its advanced voting results to the secretary of state. Yet it did. And Secretary Raffensperger accepted and folded those uncertified numbers into Georgia’s official total without questioning them. This is not partisan. This is statutory. This is the law. When the law demands three signatures on tabulator tapes and the county fails to follow the rules, those 315,000 votes are, by definition, uncertified.” 

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/20/2025 - 15:10

ICE Announces 'Most Successful' Recruitment Campaign In US History

ICE Announces 'Most Successful' Recruitment Campaign In US History

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) received more than 220,000 applications for more than 10,000 open positions at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ICE said in a statement on Dec. 18.

DHS has officially hired 11,751 law enforcement officers, attorneys, criminal investigators, and mission support staff, the agency said. This is the “most successful federal law enforcement agency recruitment campaign in American history,” the agency said.

DHS launched the ICE “Defend the Homeland” recruitment drive on July 29. The recruitment effort is backed by funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), signed into law by President Donald Trump in July, which allocates $170 billion to border security and immigration enforcement initiatives.

OBBB had granted ICE $76.5 billion, of which $30 billion was to be used to hire 10,000 additional staff members.

In a Dec. 18 post on X, ICE said it hit its goal of hiring more than 10,000 personnel in less than a year.

ICE Deputy Director Madison D. Sheahan praised the OBBB for providing the agency with necessary resources to enforce immigration law “as it’s been written and codified by Congress.”

“The president and Secretary Noem set a goal, and we exceeded it, but that doesn’t mean we’re done. We continue to call on American patriots to serve the homeland because we know that there’s still more work to do—and we will not stop until every community in this nation is safe,” Sheahan said, referring to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

ICE said it was offering “unparalleled” incentives to recruits, including a signing bonus of up to $50,000, up to $60,000 in student loan repayment, and an attractive benefits package that includes health insurance, paid federal holidays, and a retirement plan.

Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced new recruitment and retention incentives on Dec. 18 to attract skilled individuals to key law enforcement positions in the agency.

CBP is offering new border patrol agents up to $60,000 in incentives, with current agents eligible for up to $50,000 in retention incentives, the agency said.

New Air and Marine agents can become eligible for up to $10,000 in signing bonuses once they complete academy training. Both new and current agents are also eligible for retention incentives of up to 25 percent of their salary.

For new CBP officers in the Office of Field Operations who sign up for hard-to-fill and most difficult-to-fill locations, incentives of up to $60,000 are being offered. Experienced supervisors and officers eligible to retire in certain locations also may qualify for up to $60,000 in retention incentives.

“CBP is committed to recruiting and retaining top talent for our critical mission,” CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said.

“By offering competitive incentives, we are investing in skilled professionals who will help secure America’s borders and advance national security.”

The strong recruitment numbers come despite immigration enforcement officers facing unprecedented violence against them. On Dec. 12, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said that officers were facing an 8,000 percent increase in death threats along with a 1,150 percent increase in assaults.

Federal Immigration Enforcement

Democrats have criticized ICE and CBP for their part in federal immigration enforcement.

This month, a group of Democratic senators introduced the “Accountability for Federal Law Enforcement Act,” which seeks to grant individuals the right to sue law enforcement agencies and officers in civil court for any constitutional or civil violations, according to a Dec. 15 statement from the office of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)

This right to sue will be made available to all individuals in the United States “regardless of citizenship,” it said.

“For months, ICE and CBP officers have terrorized communities across the country, deploying violent and excessive tactics against immigrants, U.S. citizens, journalists, and bystanders alike with no accountability,” Padilla said.

“These abuses of individuals’ constitutional rights without consequence shatter public trust and stoke fear among hardworking members of our communities.”

DHS says ICE arrests target illegal immigrants with a history of criminal activities and has recently launched a website to boost transparency regarding the arrests.

DHS operates the website, “Worst of the Worst,” which allows users to search, based on location, for criminal illegal immigrants who have been arrested and removed from communities. On Dec. 18, the agency said it had added another 5,000 criminal illegal immigrants to the growing list of 15,000 profiles on the website.

“This new update represents just a small sample of the total number of arrests we’ve made—70 percent of ICE arrests are of criminal illegal aliens that have been charged or convicted of a crime in the United States,” McLaughlin said.

Tyler Durden Sat, 12/20/2025 - 14:00

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