ericfarns

Noam Chomsky isn’t just in the Epstein files, he’s in the Epstein files pontificating about “hysteria” over the abuse of women.

China’s rare-earth chokehold terrifies the West, but Brazil benefits A quarter of all the world’s known deposits of rare earths are found in the country

In the 1950s a Brazilian company was the world’s largest miner of rare earths, extracting metals from monazite sands. Modern Brazil wants to reclaim this mantle

In an email exchange with Epstein, Noam Chomsky admitted Venezuela’s economic collapse was due to “corruption and incompetence.” That was in 2016, three years before any sectoral sanctions in 2019. 🤷‍♂️

Opinion | Ben Sasse is exiting the stage far too soon The former Republican senator from Nebraska announced last week he has Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

As the American political scene spun off its axis in recent years, Ben Sasse seemed like a man too sane for his time, Jim Geraghty writes.

Why does batman always get the credit

Column: Chicago Bears restored the city’s faith this season. Their next challenge? Avoiding regression. Chicago Bears players head into the offseason proud of being part of a franchise turnaround. But the run to the divisional playoffs was “not far enough.”

Chicago Bears players head into the offseason proud of being part of a franchise turnaround. But the run to the divisional playoffs was “not far enough.”

Spain was a long time, direct enabler of Chavez and Maduro in Venezuela

You know that because how? When was your last conversation with her?

Most people take their prizes and put them on a shelf at home. Maria Corina Machado has used hers to advance the cause of democracy in Venezuela.

China Reveals New J-20 Fifth-gen Fighter Variant Can Strike Maritime Targets - USNI News Beijing’s newest variant of its J-20 fifth-generation fighter aircraft has the ability to conduct precision strikes on maritime targets, according to Chinese state media. This new capability will be a...

China Reveals New J-20 Fifth-gen Fighter Variant Can Strike Maritime Targets — USNI News
news.usni.org/2026/01/14/c...

Pope Leo XIV meets with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado in surprise audience Pope Leo XIV met with Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado in a private audience at the Vatican.

Pope Leo XIV met with Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado in a private audience at the Vatican on Monday.

If you think The Dead were Jerry Garcia’s band you don’t know them. From “The Other One” to “Sugar Magnolia,”“Jack Straw,” “Estimated Prophet” and “Cassidy” Bob Weir penned (often with Barlow’s lyrics) or took lead vocals on of much of the canon.

www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

Interesting listen with my friend John

How China and Russia are using Maduro’s capture to sway U.S. discourse Chinese and Russian influence operations have sought to capitalize on the U.S. operation in Venezuela by spreading conspiracy theories, confusion and inflammatory claims, researchers say.

Russia and China have launched influence operations to quickly capitalize on controversy — this time surrounding the U.S. operation to seize the Venezuelan president — by spreading conspiracy theories and disingenuous content, researchers said.

Iran medics describe hospitals overwhelmed with dead and injured protesters Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed and injured by the security forces, with more than 70 bodies brought to one hospital.

A medic at one Tehran hospital said there were "direct shots to the heads of the young people, to their hearts as well", while a doctor said an eye hospital in the capital had gone into crisis mode

She’s a chameleon and not at all the moderate pragmatist claimed by so many. She is a dyed-in-the-wool chavista in survival mode, linked to some of the worst excesses of the regime. Her elevation to de facto leader is a serious blow to the hopes of the many Venezuelans who revile her.

It is not inconceivable that 2026 is the year that tyrannies in Venezuela, Iran, and Cuba all fall.

Freedom for Iranians.
#Iran

Seems like there may be an inconsistency here

I was alive and I waited, waited

I was alive and I waited for this

Right here, right now, there is no other place I wanna be

Right here, right now, watching the world wake up from history

~ Jesus Jones

The fall of the Islamic State might be near.

Venezuela’s astoundingly messy debts are about to get messier Oil majors, hedge funds, Chinese lenders—all have a stake

Venezuela owes at least $95bn to three groups of creditors, who hope America will ease sanctions to allow negotiations with its government. Much could still go wrong

Opposite of maintenance

Also, return the Venezuela flag to 7 stars please and thank you

Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner, is sitting in what looks like a green coffee house drinking a green cup filled with coffee and looking off panel to someone and saying, “It’s all… COMPLEX.“

Or worse, rooting for US failure in Venezuela, as too many are doing. Not a winning formula.

Venezuela releases imprisoned opposition figures and activists, which Trump says US requested Venezuela has released a number of imprisoned high-profile opposition figures, activists and journalists — both citizens and foreigners — nearly a week after former President Nicolás Maduro was captur...

Alfredo Romero of Foro Penal expressed cautious hope that the release of Rocio San Miguel & others “is indeed the beginning of the dismantling of a repressive system in Venezuela ... and not a mere gesture, a charade of releasing some prisoners and incarcerating others.”

apnews.com/article/vene...

Bessent says [on X] that Argentina has paid back the dollars it swapped with the Treasury for pesos.

On @cnn.com today I called explicitly and directly for the closing of Helicoide, the main SEBIN torture center in the heart of Caracas…

Maduro was not the president. He was the leader of a junta that lost elections in July 2024 and refused to cede power. He has a long record of human rights abuses, drug trafficking, and economic destruction. He’ll receive the due process he routinely denies to his own people. He’s bad news.