{"id":63165,"date":"2026-01-03T08:23:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T14:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/?p=63165"},"modified":"2026-01-03T08:26:44","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T14:26:44","slug":"the-red-tie-guy-yet-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/?p=63165","title":{"rendered":"The Red Tie guy. Yet again."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Yule and the Moon of New Beginnings<\/p>\n

Shabbat gratefuls: The Dog run. Nathan. The igloo Dog house in place. Shadow’s coming home today. Her Dog food still in the Chewy box. The heated pad for her Dog house arrives tomorrow. Natalie. Tenderloin filet. Broccolini. Seasoned Potatoes. Tony’s Honey Lime fruit dipping sauce.<\/p>\n

Sparks of Joy and Awe: Shadow<\/p>\n

Life Kavannah: Wu Wei\u00a0 \u00a0 Shadow, my Wu Wei mistress<\/p>\n

Year Kavannah: Creativity.\u00a0 \u00a0Yetziratiut.\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cInspiration exists, but it has to find you working.\u201d \u2015<\/em> Pablo Picasso<\/em><\/p>\n

Week Kavannah:\u00a0 Patience.\u00a0 Savlanut.\u00a0 “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”\u00a0<\/span>\u2013 Ralph Waldo Emerson<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Tarot: Doing a Celtic Cross spread for the New Year<\/p>\n

One brief shining: The patient Aspen waits through the cold and the lowlight of Winter as the Black Bears sleep in their den, the moon waits through its orbit for its face to be toward Great Sol, then it becomes full, the full Moon of New Beginnings rises tonight; Shadow and I will have to relearn our life together, granting each other space for new behaviors. Savlanut.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just a moment: US CAPTURES MADURO, TRUMP SAYS<\/strong>. Headline, NYT, 1\/3\/2026\u00a0 When I first saw this bold face headline, my mind took me on a memory trip. Instantly. William Randolph Hearst. Remember the Maine! And this,\u00a0\u00a0 “Destruction of the War Ship Maine Was the Work of an Enemy!”<\/strong>\u00a0(New York Journal<\/em>, Feb 17, 1898) A sort of d\u00e8j\u00e2 vu occasioned by history as personal memory. The era of gunboat diplomacy justified by the Monroe Doctrine which warns all comers that the U.S. considers the Western Hemisphere its sphere of influence.<\/p>\n

Naked imperialism. Stephen Miller (yes, him again) said:\u00a0 \u201cAmerican sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela,\u201d Miller, who serves as White House deputy chief of staff, wrote in a social media\u00a0post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property. These pillaged assets were then used to fund terrorism and flood our streets with killers, mercenaries and drugs.\u201d quoted in Al Jazeera, Dec. 17, 2025.<\/p>\n

“Trump says Venezuela stole U.S. oil, land and assets. Here\u2019s the history.” W.P. Dec. 20, 2025. An AI summary of this article:<\/p>\n

“Venezuela\u2019s nationalization of its oil industry under Presidents P\u00e9rez and Ch\u00e1vez led to U.S. sanctions and a blockade by President Trump, who claimed Venezuela stole U.S. assets. Economist Francisco Rodr\u00edguez refuted Trump\u2019s claims, noting U.S. companies never owned oil or land there.”<\/p>\n

This event, the bombing of Caraccas, the kidnapping of Maduro and his wife, an attempt to reclaim “stolen” assets had no Congressional approval. It’s pure histrionic adventurism driven by a bully who listens to the most extreme voices who have his ear.<\/p>\n

And, there’s this: Trump said we are “locked and loaded,” ready to intervene in Iran if the government begins killing protesters. I wish China, or Canada, or Mexico had made the same declaration when ICE began its extrajudicial rampage against protesters in L.A. and Chicago.<\/p>\n

Killing protesters in Iran. NO! Killing and maiming protesters and legal citizens during deportation raids. Well, you gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet.<\/p>\n

Sigh.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yule and the Moon of New Beginnings Shabbat gratefuls: The Dog run. Nathan. The igloo Dog house in place. Shadow’s coming home today. Her Dog food still in the Chewy box. The heated pad for her Dog house arrives tomorrow. Natalie. Tenderloin filet. Broccolini. Seasoned Potatoes. Tony’s Honey Lime fruit dipping sauce. Sparks of Joy … Continue reading The Red Tie guy. Yet again.<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,1885],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-us-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63165"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63167,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63165\/revisions\/63167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}