It Could Happen Here - Executive Disorder: Minneapolis ICE Shooting, Maduro, Iran & Aleppo Update

Episode Date: January 9, 2026

The gang talk about the ICE shooting of a woman in Minneapolis, the kidnapping of Venezuelan president Maduro, protest in Iran, and conflict in Aleppo.Note: This episode was recorded prior to the shooting in Portland, Oregon, but we will be closely following developments. We also did not know Renée Nicole Good’s name at the time of recording, but we feel it should be included here. Sources: https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115850817778602689  https://t.me/s/Operasyon1  https://x.com/war_noir/status/2008927274326761631?s=20  https://x.com/vvanwilgenburg  https://hengaw.net/  Https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/our-response-israel-gaza-war https://files.constantcontact.com/7fef1c1f901/78a97f42-d0ad-4077-94b0-1e3300697e20.pdf?rdr=true  https://www.defendrojava.org/news/ecr-statement-on-the-situation-in-aleppo https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-it-could-happen-here-30717896/episode/what-bombing-means-for-freedom-in-286094596/  https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-it-could-happen-here-30717896/episode/trump-kidnaps-venezuelan-president-maduro-315837818/ https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/minneapolis-ice-shooting-franklin-park-marimar-martinez-operation-midway-blitz/ https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/21/us/marimar-martinez-shooting-case-what-we-know https://mprnews.org/story/2026/01/07/shooting-south-minneapolis-ice-agents-federal-operation https://pbs.org/newshour/politics/2000-federal-agents-sent-to-minneapolis-area-to-carry-out-largest-immigration-operation-ever-ice-says https://www.defendrojava.org/news/call-in-campaign-urge-congress-to-take-action-in-support-of-syrian-kurdsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming tech at Lenovo.com. Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming, and performance that won't quit. Push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors.

For the next era of gaming. Upgrade to smooth, high-quality streaming with Intel Wi-Fi 6E and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech search. Power up at Lenovo.com. Hello, I'm Jorge Ramos. This week, on the moment, we take a look at Venezuela's uncertain future in a conversation with two people who have directly advised U.S. presidents.

Juan Gonzalez, we're in the Obama and Biden administrations. We're really good at invading countries. We're very bad at nation building. In Carlos de Arrosillo, we're in Trump's two terms. I can guarantee you that nobody in the Trump administration likes Del Sidrodeges. Listen to the moment with Jorge Ramos and Paola Ramos from the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or whatever you get your podcasts.

Are you desperately hoping for change in 2026, but feeling stuck? I'm Dr. Laurie Santos, and in a new year series of my show, The Happiness Lab, I'm going to look at the science of getting, well, unstuck. Unstuck at work, unstuck in your relationships, and even unstuck inside your mind. I am the absolute worst culprit when it comes to getting into these ruminative loops and just driving myself crazy.

Listen to the Happiness Lab on the IHeart Radio app, podcast or wherever you get your shows. Hey everybody, it's Michelle Williams, host of checking in on the Black Effect Podcast Network. You know, we always say New Year, New Me, but real change starts on the inside. It starts with giving your mind and your spirit the same attention you give your goals. And on my podcast, we talk mental health, healing, growth, and everything you need to step into your next season, whole and empowered.

New Year, Real You. Listen to checking in with Michelle Williams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. AllZone Media. This is It Could Happen here, Executive Disorder, our usually weekly newscast covering what's happening in the White House, the crumbling world, and what it means for you. I'm Garrison Davis-Tame, joined by Mia Wong, James Stout, and Sophie Lichten. This episode, we're covering the events. from the end of December to the first week of January. Yeah, and the events are not good.

Did not start off to a slow start whatsoever. Did not ease into the new year. Yeah, this might be the worst, just the worst first week of a year I can remember it. I remember 2020. Worst year ever, potentially mere. I long for the halcyon days in which 2020 was the worst year we'd ever. experienced. I started 2020 cycling around Rwanda, and I had a great start of 2020. This has not been a great start, though. No. Yeah, let's talk about the event that happened several hours before we

started recording this. We're recording this again on Wednesday, January 7th, so I don't think there's going to be any new information about this, but yeah, hours before we started recording ice shot and killed a woman in her car at a routine anti-ice action in Minneapolis. From the videos, these protests are identical to thousands of other small-scale protests against ice raids where pissed off locals blow whistles and scream at the ice agents who carry off their friends and family in the dead of night. The video shows ice agents approaching a stopped car. One agent tries to open the front car door, they'll scream and get the fuck out, while another walks in front of the car as it backs up to pull away from the scene.

as the vehicle pulls forward to drive away, the ICE agent pulls out his gun and shoots the driver. This is the agent's immediate response. There is no verbal warning. He simply pulls out the gun and shoots. There are videos out there. You will see, I have seen three angles of it so far. The videos are graphic and gut wrenching,

as we'll get into in a second. So, be warned if you are trying to watch them. You are just going to see ICE murder a woman. The agent, I can fairly definitively say, was in absolutely no danger. Again, he simply steps aside from the slow-moving vehicle. He has enough time to take a shot and then step aside and take two more shots. The video is just heart-wrenching. The closest angle we have, the woman recording the video is screaming no as the agent

pulls out his gun and shoots. There's another video that shows there was a passenger inside of the van, and it just shows her sitting on the ground sobbing and saying they killed my wife, I don't know what to do. It is one of the most heart-wrenching things I have ever seen. Having watched the videos of both, it is eerily similar to ICE's murder of Silvero Villegas Gonzalez in Chicago in September, who was also killed while attempting to drive away from ICE agents, and who the DHS has likewise accused of committing acts of domestic terrorism by attempting to ram agents. it is clear from both videos

that is not what was going on. Both these people were simply trying to pull away from the ICE agents. The other shooting that this is very similar to, that I think has been getting more press comparisons even though in terms of what actually happens

in the video that we have, I think it's closer to the actual murder. But it is also very, very similar to an incident in Chicago last year where Border Patrol agents hunted and then shot Mary Mar Martinez, who thankfully survived but was charged by the federal government for domestic terrorism, a case which thankfully completely collapsed after, among other things, the contents of a group chat

were released in which Charles Exam, who's the agent who shot her, was bragging about shooting the woman in Chicago. So that's, I think, a valuable insight into the mindset of these people, is that when one of these went to trial, we got a group chat where the agent who shot who shot a different woman in a very similar situation was bragging about it. In the immediate wake of this Trump posts on true social that the driver in Minneapolis, quote, willfully and viciously ran over the ICE officer who seems to have shot her in self-defense, end quote.

And then he then links to a video, which is a bad angle of the shooting, that also does not show what he claims at all because he is simply from the video footage we have available. This is simply a lie. Yeah, after the person was shot, their vehicle continued moving forward and struck a parked car that is not unusual in the case when somebody's shot driving a vehicle, right? Like, you slump forward, you slump forward onto the pedals. Yeah. There's two things I want to emphasize here.

One is that the DHS always releases statements. This is the third shooting like this that we've had since these massive immigration raids began. And every single time they release a statement where they accuse the driver of intentionally attempting to ram the agent. It has never been true. We have seen three attempts of this. We have seen the videos in three attempts of this. It has been false every single time. Major media outlets continue to just post the statements without any of the context that these people have been lying about this every single time.

And the second thing that I want to emphasize about this is how normal of a protest this was. was, this is just a completely ordinary ice action. It looks like every other anti-ice action I have ever seen. It wasn't a particularly large one. It was just a group of people who were on the street. In the video where the woman is sobbing about her wife, she says that they pulled up to film the ice agents. Yeah. Yeah, it's heart-wrenching. There have been lots of protests. Greg Bovino, whose influential Border Patrol officer, we have talked about many times on the show, was at the scene. And it's also worth noting

this comes within 24 hours of the White House announcing their giant operation in Minneapolis to deploy 2,000 federal agents. This was specifically a new surge that started on Tuesday, January 6th,

and literally less than 24 hours after the surge, ICE killed a woman. Yeah. The thing I want to end on in the immediate analysis before we talk a bit about the protests that have been happening

is that absolutely hauntingly, today's murder took place less than a mile away from where police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd which is, yeah, it is as clear a demonstration of the continuity of the violence of the American state as can possibly be produced. Yeah. And I think the other pattern that we've seen

specifically in these protests is pulling weapons on people constantly, even more so than normal police would. And, you know, I remember a lot of the people I've talked to in Chicago, one of the things that they said is that, yeah, this is, they're eventually going to shoot someone, and they've now shot a third person in the course of these operations. And presumably as long as they're allowed to continue, they will probably shoot more people because one of the things that's the best apparent from this video is that this is the sort

of muscle memory reaction that they have to being in front of a car that's moving towards them. There's no thinking. There's no thought. They just pull out the gun and shoot. Yeah, I mean, he's shooting the same time. He's moving sideways out of the way of the car. Yeah.

He just as easily could have not fired and it would have had the same result. He just chose to fire. Yeah. A little over an hour after the shooting, Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis gave a press conference where he said this to ICE. There's little, I can say, again, that'll make this situation better. but I do have a message for our community, for our city, and I have a message for ICE. To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis.

We do not want you here. Your stated reason for being in this city is to create some kind of safety, and you are doing exactly the opposite. People are being hurt. Families are being ripped apart. long-term Minneapolis residents that have contributed so greatly to our city, to our culture, to our economy, are being terrorized, and now somebody is dead. That's on you. And it's also on you to leave.

It's on you to make sure that further damage, further loss of life and injury is not done. We're going to be working towards justice as quickly as we possibly. can right now. And justice is what we've all got to get. Fray, I think, is just, is reflecting the sentiments of the city right now. There are immediate protests in, I mean, within minutes of the shooting, there were people showing up. Protests have been intensifying. Prout's got tear gassed like 30 minutes after shooting. Yeah. Yeah. And, I mean, and Bovino is, there are pictures of him on scene while these protests are sort of ramping up. So we will see what happens in Minneapolis in the coming days. Solidarity protests have already been announced in Portland and Philadelphia. And I'm sure more

cities will follow in the coming hours. Yeah. Yeah, we'll give an update next week if more information becomes available. I think the events themselves are fairly clear, but we will see what the federal reaction to this is going to be and what the reaction on the ground is and we will keep you updated. Let's have some ads here and we'll be back to talk about Venezuela. Okay, new year, fresh start. honestly, I'm starting with dinner. This year, I'm being smarter about where my energy goes, and dinner was taking way too much of it. I just signed up for Hello Fresh, and they take fresh start to a whole new level. Fresh, high-quality ingredients delivered right to my door,

locally sourced whenever possible. Everything pre-portioned, nothing wasted. Now, I'm not dragging myself through weekend grocery runs, or panic staring at the fridge at 5.30, trying to make something out of random leftovers. And I'm definitely not tossing out food I never used or falling back on expensive takeout apps because I ran out of ideas. Yeah, that happened a lot. Just simple, stress-free recipes and meals that help me save more. Waste less. And for the first time in a long time, I actually look forward to dinner.

Get your fresh start right now and get 50% off your first box plus free sides for life with HelloFresh. That's right, free sides for life. Go to Hellofresh.c.c.8 and use code Yum50. That's Hellofresh.ca.ca. Code Yum 50. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming tech at Lenovo.com. Dominate every match with next level speed,

seamless streaming, and performance that won't quit. Push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors for the next era of gaming. Upgrade to smooth high-quality streaming with Intel Wi-Fi 6E and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech search. Power up at Lenovo.com. Hello, I'm Jorge Ramos.

This week, on the moment, we take a look at Venezuela's uncertain future in a conversation with two people who have directly advised U.S. presidents. Juan Gonzalez, during the Obama and Biden administrations, we're really good at invading countries. We're very bad at nation-building. In Carlos D.Rosillo, during Trump's, two terms. I can guarantee you that nobody in the Trump administration likes Delsi Rodriguez. Listen to the moment with Jorge Ramos and Paola Ramos on the I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or whatever you get your podcast. Are you desperately hoping for change in 2026, but feeling stuck? Just spinning your wheels and old routines and bad habits. I'm Dr. Lari Santos. And in a new year series of my show, The Happiness Lab, I'm going to look at the science of getting, well, unstuck at work, unstuck in your relationships, and even unstuck inside your mind. I am the absolute worst culprit when it comes to getting into these ruminative loops and just driving myself crazy. We'll look at ways to reignite your sense of purpose. We'll look at ways to reignite your sense of purpose. this. Rediscover your values and get more creative. We'll also explore how to design a life that feels more fulfilling. It's sort of like the game of life. I don't know if you ever played that game. Oh my gosh, yes. You take the car along and you try and get money and you try and get degrees, and you try and get to the end where either you have a mansion or a ranch or a shack. And once you get to retirement, you're done. What about the whole path along the way? So join me to get unstuck in

26. Listen to the Happiness Lab on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows. We are back with the second wild story of this week, which is that the United States, especially United States, Special Forces, raided Caracas last week and kidnapped President Maduro, who is the president of Venezuela and his wife. We covered the details of this in a whole episode, so I'm not going to go over to any great detail here, and that's already out. Trump kidnaps Venezuelan President Maduro is the name of that episode, so you should be able to find at the feed. He danced too close to the sun.

I'm not so sure the dancing was the fact, but I will only update that to say a couple of things. First of all, we know that there were in excess of 50 Venezuelan casualties, right? Or I should say there were in excess of 50 casualties. Some of those would probably be Cuban security forces. Uber nationals, yeah, in a military advice, kind of a prestige posting, but military advisor kind of role. And that there were injuries to US troops, which didn't hear about first. And some US troops and US helicopters did sustain some damage, but there were no people killed on the United States side. And Donald Trump has truth that, I'm just going to read this one.

I think we can do our best to understand it. I am pleased to announce that interim authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 million barrels of high quality sanctioned oil to the United States of America. This oil will be sold at its market price and that money will be controlled by me as president of the United States of America to ensure that it's used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States. I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan immediately. It will be taken by storage ships and bought directly to unloading docks in the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter, Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America. You know, I distinctly remember the days, the halcyon days when I was a child, when saying no war for oil was a provocative political statement because the leaders of our country insisted that the wars were not, in fact, for oil.

Yeah. Yeah, all that has dropped. We do not give a single fuck anymore. No, we're just openly doing anything we were doing before. Yeah, it is wild to think of the Bush era of a golden age of at least pretending. This is extraordinarily vague, right? How much this oil is it being turned over over what period of time? It's Venice where they're expected to extract and refine the oil then handed over,

or is it going to give US companies a right to do that. They don't have much of the processing facilities. There's like one, I think, American processing facility that can process the kind of crew that comes out of Venezuela, but it's difficult. We talked about this more in the other episode, but the Venezuelan oil sucks. It's difficult to refine. It's high quality.

What are you talking about? It's right here in the post, man. I don't know what you talk. I'm not hearing the truth. Yeah, in the truth. Thank you. Thank you, Garrison. That really does make it sound like I'm reading

from the Bible at church or something. Oh, God. Also, the oil is not sanctioned. That's not how sanctions work. It's sanctioned countries and people, not things. Yeah, bizarre. The center structure is, yeah, it's doing a lot for me. So, yeah, we talked about the Rodriguez option in our last show, and I guess this is kind of confirming a lot of what we had speculated about there.

That's assuming this happens, by the way. I will say that there was some dip in oil prices today over the exact expectation of this is real, but I don't know how well-connected those people are either, quite frankly, or how much of an understanding anyone has over, whether this is going to happen or not. We don't know. He just says things, and sometimes they happen, and sometimes they don't. And there's no actual way to tell which ones are going to come true and which ones are just him posting.

From Trump's mouth to Rubio's ears. Yeah, but then Rubio says something different in an interview. Trump says it again, and then here we go. Yeah, it does look like they are attempting to pursue the strategy, which you spoke about, which is that the only thing getting liberated, Venezuela is the oil, right? They will allow the regime to continue. There will not be any attempt at regime change. They just want a puppet version of the old regime, which they can manipulate purely, apparently for their own financial benefit with oil. Yeah, it's also worth

noting that Trump is claiming that he personally is going to be controlling the money after it's sold at market price. A sentence that at any other time in American history, would be the most dictatorial thing you've ever seen, but pales in comparison to the fact that he is claiming to be running a country after a war that he unilaterally started without Congress. So... I mean, is it even accurate to call it a war? It seems like it's like a single military action now.

It's like an act of war, I guess, right? If you combined the blockades, which are an act of war, and we'll get to blockades more in a second, and this, I think this is just a war. I mean, I went to the protest in New York the morning after the action. And, you know, a lot of chance for, you know, no war in Venezuela, you know, no more bombs in Venezuela. And, like, it looks like they're kind of done. They're kind of done with the bombs.

They're kind of done with the war. Here's the thing, though. So Trump has also said that if the current government of Venezuela refuses to comply, he will do more strikes. Worse than he did to Maduro. Yeah. And it's always kind of difficult to parse exactly what's going on there. Yeah, there's a potential for more US action, definitely. Yeah.

It seems like right now they appear to have got roughly what they wanted. And then, like, there's also the potential for this journey number of ways, right? Like, things could continue to deteriorate for the regime there. Like, what does it mean for their ability? They have previously had the ability to use various kind of nefarious reflaggings of boats which Mia's going to talk about a second here, to obtain some income. Right.

Like if they're not even able to do that, it's get even worse, right? And the economic situation in Venezuela could very easily get worse. I know everyone I've spoken to there is out trying to stock up on non-perishable food, and they don't know what the future holds for them. Plus, you now have, as we saw earlier in this week,

very trigger-happy, pro-government militias would probably be the best way to describe it, Like in this case, they were shooting at a drone up in the air, but there is very clearly still a lot of tension in the country. So on Saturday morning after the military action in Venezuela, I went to the protest in New York, like I previously mentioned. And I've put together this little audio report that I recorded at the protest that takes you through about like an hour's worth of. protest activity and yeah give it a give it a listen it is saturday january 3rd 254 p.m. I am in times square with I would say 200 to 300 people protesting u.s. action in Venezuela as well as Iran and the genocide in Palestine kind of a mix of causes but mostly talking about Venezuela and the military extradition

of President Maduro. The organizational structure at this protest seems to be mostly propped up by various communist organizations. There's a Revolution Communist Party tabling. There's the Bob Avakin Refuse Fascism Organization with a lot of banners and signs.

PSL has a bunch of banners and signs, as well as the Cooney Internationalist Student Group, which is tied to the New York City public university system. They have some homemade signs, the only signs actually drawn on paper probably this morning, versus all of the PSL signs which appear pre-printed and pre-prepared. A rotating selection of speakers have given

speeches for the past hour, and now at 3 p.m., this relatively small crowd for a New York protest is leading a march south. Are you live? No, I'm not alive. The march is taking up probably about one city block just outside of Times Square on 43rd and 8th. Turning on to 8th Avenue now after about 10 minutes of marching. NYPD bikes at the front of the march as well as on foot officers on either side of the crowd. Not like a huge presence. I've maybe seen cumulatively a hundred or so cops, which is actually not that much for New York,

especially based on how spread out they are. Like it's maybe like two dozen cops on either side of the march, just walking, walking on the sidewalk. And then maybe another two to three dozen in the front and more in the back. So between 50 to 100 cops. A little over 15 minutes into the march, they've now moved up to 47th Street. At this point, there's been zero conflict with police. They've mostly facilitated the traffic around the march as people continue to chant and walk north. The crowd has been marching for over 35 minutes and now are our,

arriving at what I assume is their destination, Columbus Circle, up at 58th Street and Broadway. No scuffles with the police. There was like two guys in mega hats, kind of trying to antagonize the side of the crowd for the past 15 minutes. Nothing really happened. One random dude came out of a convenience store yelling fuck Maduro, trying to, agitate some people in the crowd but everyone just moved on and now they are approaching Columbus Circle. The decent people in this country need to answer the people of the world. What are we gonna do? Venezuela the people. Police are now very lightly directing people

into Columbus Circle onto the plaza and off of the street. Some groups are packing up their protest signs and bags and starting to peel off. So as expected, this protest was done by a coalition of anti-imperialist, leftist, socialist, communist organizations. You have the Party for Socialism and Liberation, PSL, and all of these other communist groups who are all primarily either trying to grow their membership roster or sell their newspapers, sell their magazines. And this is what most of the protest actually is.

They have tables set up while people are giving speeches. They have people walking around, handing out pamphlets and flyers. And this protest was not very big. Like I said, it was relatively small, maybe 200, 300, 300 people. Because there's not a lot of public buy-in for this sort of thing. Because at this point, if anyone's been around, they know, based on the flyers they get posted, what kind of protest this is going to be. This is going to be socialist, communist organizations trying to grow their membership.

It's not a representative sample of the people of New York. is it is people trying to sell magazines and newspapers and books. And the fact that the entire protest ecosystem for stuff like this is fully captured by these sorts of organizations makes it really hard to grow a genuine movement because people know that it's going to be walking for 30 minutes and then people are going to be shoving pamphlets in their in their hand. And that's the extent to which you are protesting. It is that. It's walking along a path led by the NYPD to Columbus Circle. Yeah, I'm talking about this happened in almost every city in the U.S., right?

Like, I saw a flyer for one in Zendiego. Personally couldn't be asked to attend, because, as you say, like, I knew what was going to happen. And, like, the person in a high-vis and a clipboard was going to try and get my email address. I will say that the thing that did hearten me a little bit was that there were a few protests, I mean, just out in the Chicago suburbs, which is not a place you normally have these, that weren't by these groups that were just pretty

spontaneous on the morning of the demonstration. But the sort of issue, yeah, that you're referring to, Garrison. is that like even these spontaneous protests, the energy just gets captured by like the PSL and these organizations that fundamentally don't want to do anything other than grow their organization. And if I was designing an org to co-opt the anger that's happening right now and I wanted it to funnel the anger in a useless direction that burned people out on activism, I wouldn't change anything from the PSL. And I mean, and this has been what the American anti-war movement has looked like since the Iraq War demonstrations. Yeah. Right. This was one of the battles that happened inside of the Iraq war protest. It's one of the reasons why they didn't work.

And like, this is a very serious thing. Like, this is a very serious military action that should warrant massive public outcry. But protesting taps into a finite resource that people have. And when you have an inclination that the protests are going to go this way, people might not want to expend their personal resource because it is not seriously putting pressure on anyone making decisions in the government. Yeah. This is a very serious thing that we shouldn't underplay for a second,

but like the United States have done something, which is completely illegal, Right, which is an act of war against a sovereign country. And me saying this doesn't mean I'm like a Maduro stand and anyone who has listened to any portion of my work will understand that. But it is incredibly serious that the US in attempting to set this precedent that it can just black bag heads of state. Whether or not the US considers some legitimate, right, their argument that Maduro is not legitimate. It doesn't matter. If they can just send dudes in helicopters to black and speak people around the world, then that is a very scary precedent.

All right, I am going to head out and return to the CES show floor. I will say for the, if we're doing a tariff talk segment, there has been discussion of tariffs at CES that I have not mentioned on the CES episodes so far. Two thumbs down. Two thumbs down on the tariffs from the Consumer Electronics Showcase. Wow. They're coming out with the bold stance that they don't like the tariffs. Wow.

I think Ivanka Trump was giving a keynote address at the last CES that I attended. That rocks. Incredible. Incredible. Related news, I've stopped attending. Well, I have to keep attending now because the Secretary to the U.S. from Estonia was was oogling me for 30 minutes yesterday. So I might be getting a new passport. Oh, boy. Good luck in Godspeed. All right, goodbye, everybody.

The AI poop analyzing toilet for me, Garrison. I will do. So one of the questions that we had at the very beginning of this operation was what is going to happen? into the U.S. oil blockade on Venezuela? And the answer is that it appears to still be in effect, the evidence of which is the U.S. interdicting two oil tankers, one of which they've been chasing for about a month, a few weeks, which is really funny if you know how large an oil tanker is that you've been in a boat chase with an oil tanker. It's like, I guess it's just, so big they can't make it stop?

Yeah, I guess. So apparently the administration is claiming that the Coast Guard had attempted to board it and they refused to allow the Coast Guard to board. But the only thing I can think of is, you know those giant vehicles they use to move rockets around at

JPL or like from JPL on the launch site where they have, they can only move like five miles an hour and they're the size of a rocket because you have to have a standing rocket on it. That's what it's like you're chasing an empty oil tanker across the Atlantic. It's also worth noting that one of the very weird parts of this is that I'm going to quote

from Reuters here. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement that the ship's crew had made, quote, frantic efforts to avoid apprehension, which again, I cannot emphasize this enough. This is an oil tanker. Like, this is not a speed boat. This is like the larger. It's like one of the largest and most unwieldy craft that humanity has ever produced in its entire history.

Like, how are you getting frantically avoid an oil tanker? Yeah, is it zigzagging? I don't know. Oil taker evasive maneuvers. Yeah. And this is also from that Raiders thing. And quote, failed to obey Coast Guard orders. And so faces criminal charges, which sucks.

But also, like, if you're getting evaded by an oil tanker, that is a skill issue. Like, you can, there are websites where you can track these things. They have transponders. Like, when this thing was captured, its transponder was on. So, the skill issue. Good Lord. On a more serious note, this is part of that initial oil blockade of sanctioned Venezuelan oil that began last year.

The U.S. government has been saying that this ship and. the other ship, the other oil tanker that they've seized are basically ghost ships, which we talked about another episode. I don't know if you want to explain again what that is, James, but... Yeah, they're often old ships that are either reflagged or the ships that have been retired and are returned, or the ships that have been scrapped and someone has taken their name and is using it, so that they appear like ships, you know, coming back from the dead. But often they will reflag or rename, you know, halfway through their trip.

And it's a bunch of boat law stuff to avoid sanctions is what they tend to be. Yeah. And so that's the U.S.'s justification for seizing two more oil tankers, which again, I also kind of emphasize enough that this also is an act of war. Yeah. I mean, were they flagged as Venezuelan? No. One of them was flagged as Russian, and I haven't seen anything about what the other ship was

flagged as. China has protested the seizures of these boats, but there hasn't really, been anything other than diplomatic noise so far from the Chinese government who, if there was a government on the world stage, who was going to do a serious protest about this, I think it would have been either Russia or China, and we haven't really seen anything more significant than diplomats being annoyed. So we will continue to see how this oil blockade plays out and the effects that it has on people in Venezuela. I wish I had a better ad pivot for this, but I don't. So here's ads. Well, they're like oil tankers, me. They just rumble along and you can't stop it.

And then it's, uh, yeah, we've been unable to interdict them. You want to know what my evenings actually look like? Homework questions. Someone needs a permission slip signed. The dog's begging for a walk. Someone's yelling for a snack. And somewhere in the middle of all that, I'm supposed to figure out dinner. That's why Hello Fresh has been a lifesaver. Fresh ingredients show up at my door, locally sourced when possible, simple step-by-step recipes that actually make sense. And no matter how chaotic the rest of my night gets, dinner is the one thing I don't have to stress about. I'm just cooking a delicious meal my family will actually eat and it takes around 30 minutes. And honestly, the real value is knowing that even

on the messiest nights, dinner's handled. That's one less thing pulling at me. And that matters. Take some stress out of your evenings right now. Get 50% off your first box plus free sides for life. That's right. Free sides for life. Go to Helen. Hellofresh.c8 and use code rescue 50. That's Hellofresh.cate code rescue 50. Hellofresh. Canada's number one meal kit delivery service. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you.

Don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming tech at Lenovo.com. Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming and performance that won't quit. Push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors. For the next era of gaming, upgrade to smooth high-quality streaming with Intel Wi-Fi 6E and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking.

Win the tech search. Power up at Lenovo.com. Hello, I'm Jorge Ramos. This week, on the moment, we take a look at Venezuela's uncertain future in a conversation with two people who have directly advised U.S. presidents. Juan Gonzalez, during the Obama and Biden administrations,

we're really good at invading countries. We're very bad at nation building. In Carlos de Arrosillo, during Trump's, two terms. I can guarantee you that nobody in the Trump administration likes Delci Rodriguez. Listen to the moment with Jorge Ramos and Paola Ramos on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Are you desperately hoping for change in 2026, but feeling stuck? Just spinning your wheels in old routines and bad habits? I'm Dr. Lari Santos, and in a new year series of my show, The Happiness Lab, I'm going to look at the science of getting, well, unstuck at work, unstuck in your relationships, and even unstuck inside your mind.

I am the absolute worst culprit when it comes to getting into these ruminative loops and just driving myself crazy. We'll look at ways to reignite your sense of purpose, rediscover your values, and get more creative. We'll also explore how to design a life that feels more fulfilling. It's sort of like the game of life. I don't know if you ever played that game. Oh, my gosh, yes. You take the car along and you try and get money, and you try and get degrees, and you try and get to the end where either you have a mansion or a ranch or a shack. And once you get to retirement, you're done. What about the whole path along the way?

So join me to get unstuck in 2026. Listen to the Happiness Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows. We are back from our failed ad interdiction. Do you want to talk about Syria, James? Yeah, this is James. Oh, this is grim. The rest of the world segment, because a lot of bad stuff is happening. And some of it's not going to punch into your mainstream U.S. news,

media diet. So right now, pretty serious fighting has broken out in Aleppo, right? Syrian transitional government forces are shelling and attempting to enter the Kurdish enclave of Sheikh Maksud. Shikmaksud is like an area in where Kurdish and other people, right, there are Christian people, there are Zidi people here have, and this enclave has remained, right, despite the regime taking over, of the Syrian transitional government, taking over the rest of Aleppo, right? They didn't take over that area. area has remained under the control of the A&ES, the autonomous administration of northern east Syria, aka Roshava, but they have demilitarized it.

And what that means is that there are only internal security forces who are called Assayesh in Kurdish, in this region. It appears that what happened was an SDF drone unit struck an SDG vehicle with a drone, STG Syrian transitional government, right? That's the Jolani Alshara government. Of course, they have another acronym. Just when you thought the acronyms were over. Oh, yeah.

They are not gone. God. Yeah, it's more. So they hit this SDG Viglin Der Hafer, and then the SDGs seemed to respond by dropping grenades in Shikmaksud from drones, and then the Asaish responded with drones, and conflict began, right? Well, it's different from them. There has been conflict on and off in Shik Maksud for a long time,

but in the last year, right, since HTS moved from a, Lapo to seize most of the country. HTS-Hia al-Shamm, a group that was formerly on the foreign terrorist organization that's for the United States for no longer is. What we have seen here is not only shelling of the Sheikh Maksud neighborhood and shaling in response, or mortify and response. Yes, for each don't have heavy weapons. That's not their role.

The STG has also attempted to enter Shik Maksu to seize it, right? This has obviously prompted thousands of people to flee because they are worried. very reasonably about groups that were previously known under the banner of the SNA or the Turkish FSA who have previously conducted ethnic cleansing of Kurdish people in areas that they have managed to take control of, right, who have murdered civilians, who have executed women in Kurdish politics. There's every reason for these civilians to fear that happening again, right? Because the Syrian transitional government has far too often just rebadged SNAs. units with a long and storied history of war crimes and not done anything to stop them doing it

again. But also some of these are not SNA units. Some of these are Syrian transitional government units from other parts of Syria. Nonetheless, this attempt and incursion into the neighbourhood is remarkable and it's different. As I write this, the SDG appeared to be staging to enter the neighbourhood again. Very amusingly, they took a video showing this, which also revealed the position of all their armor on telegram. Classic Syrian Civil War stuff. Everyone loves to be revealing their position on telegram.

So, yeah, maybe when I reopen Telegram, those guys would have been wiped out by a bunch of drones. Who knows? But, yeah, it continues to be a flashpoint. And this is the most serious flare-up we've seen in a long time, right? There was supposed to be an agreement for the integration of the SDF into Syrian traditional government

Ministry of Defense that has failed. comes to an agreement, various sources are reporting various things about what they wanted, specifically what the SDF wanted for the YPGA, who are the women's defense forces. And there are, that is a definite red line for them. They won't disband, but the women won't put down their guns, right? And for very reasonable reasons. Yeah. We don't know exactly if the Syrian transitional government refused to accept them in any way.

They have said they wouldn't do that. They have said they would accept them, but we don't really have, like, a very clear, Picture of the last round of negotiations. Talking of Kurdish armed groups, let's go from Rajabat to Rojab, right, across Kurdistan from west to east, just looking at the little compass in my head. In Iran, protests have grown around the country. These protests began largely because of the decreased purchasing power of people's money there. Of course, the protests have further reduced that.

And people are really feeling the economic. bite, right? This time, what is different is that armed groups have come out in support. I saw, I believe the name translates as People's Revolutionary Front had assassinated a cop, it was like a drive-by. P.A.K, so P.K. One of the smaller Kurdish paramilitary groups. I made an episode, I think it was called What Does Bombing Mean for Freedom in Iran last year with Gordain?

and I will try and get back with Gordy soon to talk more about this. But if you're wondering who are all these groups, what are all these acronyms, that's the episode you need to go to. So P.A.K. Peshemoka have been killed, right, which is a significant change. There have been armed elements in these protests. And there has been a unity statement, both from the different Kurdish armed groups. I think it was Piyak, P.A.K. in Kuala, who made the statement, right? and then also from coalition of Kurdish women's organizations.

It's organizations from across that political spectrum, but in that part of the world coming together to denounce the actions of the regime, which include, for instance, in Elan province, riot police storming a hospital. I don't know, people will have seen that video, but it was extremely disturbing. Has there been any movement from the Belushi independence groups? Yeah, I know, I'm pretty sure it was,

a Belushi group. I remember in the 2019 process, the most military it got was, I think, a Belushi group, like, fired an RPG at a police checkpoint, but it never really sort of spread beyond that. Yeah, I don't know. There are... There are a number of, like,

balusias groups, but I'm not aware of their involvement. They've definitely been like police repression there, like, there is everywhere else, right? Yeah, absolutely. But, yeah, I will try and probably cover this in a whole episode next week, so I have a lot of time to prepare on that.

with all the craziness. I did see that this morning, so we're on the seventh, again, the armed forces attack protesters in the Grand Bazaar and Tehran, which, if you're not aware, has a tremendous significance, right, from the 179 revolution there.

And Trump has to intervene, as he always does, right? Yeah, exactly perfectly what the regime wants is to let them portray themselves as defenders of Iranian sovereignty, etc., etc. Against American imperialism. Yeah, America, great safety.

and moving on, let's talk about Israel. Israel has threatened to withhold, I believe it has now withheld registration, to operate in Gaza from MSF, Medsonson Fonterre, Oxfam, and a number of other aid organizations. MSF, I'm just going to quote from them, called it a cynical and calculated attempt to prevent organizations from providing services of Gaza

in the West Bank, which is a breach of Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law. It's just then trying to further starve people, people to death, right? There's no other reason. Like, Israel has made the claim that these groups have been infiltrated by militants. That is a laughable conjecture. Like, it's a bad joke.

Like, I've worked with MSF and Oxfam all over the world, right? There were a lot of criticisms of them I would make. One of them is not that they have been infiltration by shocking them us. Like, you're having a laugh. I want to do a whole episode on this, but, like, when O'Brien talks about two plus two equals five in 1984. This is where that gets us, right? When you can just say something that is

blatantly false and forced people to agree that it is true, and that is the project of genocide, because it first has to destroy the truth to justify what it is doing. And we are seeing that happening. And a very brief migration update,

finally, in the case before Judge Boasberg regarding the Alien Enemies Act that we've reported back before, the Trump administration asked for a delay. because of the changing situation in Venezuela, right? I don't think there wasn't for delay, so they can be like, oh, it's not safe for people to go back. We'd better keep hold of them and treat them nicely.

It is my suspicion that any agreement they come to with the Rodriguez regime will include that it must accept people back. And as I said in the other episode, right, these people are going back to a country which is not deeply paranoid about American spies, and they have lived in America. This is not going to be good for them. And the city of San Diego has sued a Trump administration for damaged city property on Marin Valley Road, or has filed the complaint today to do so. I'm glad they're doing it.

It's also deeply hypocritical, right? Mayor Tor Gloria was out there asking for more border security funding under Biden. They defunded the office in a city which would welcome refugees and migrants. Like, is it just a publicity thing? These people don't care, right? When migrants were being held in the open air in San Diego County and San Diego City, these people weren't there. and still glad it's happening but don't for one second

believe these people give a single shit about migrants they don't and don't for one second thing the voting for them is voting to be kind to migrants because it's not Todd Gloria is a liar and he just like everything else he's using this an opportunity

to promote himself and he's a terrible person but yeah in this case they are suing for trespassing and placing of razor wire on city property it's city property that's way outside of where you would think the city of San Diego is it's just adjacent

to Ota and that will but I think they have it there for water rights reasons or something. Brief tariff update, not tariff news this week. However, comma, the Supreme Court is expected to rule on the giant case over a wide swath of Trump's tariffs this Friday. So next week, we will explain what happened there in the fallout. As you're listening to this episode, that decision might have already been released. Have fun.

And put a trans girl on your couch. And if you would like to email us, you can do so. coolzone tips at proton.me. If you wanted to be encrypted, you should use a proton mail address as well. And, you know, we reported the news. We reported the news. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Coolzone Media, visit our website, poolzonemedia.

Or check us out on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can now find sources where it could happen here listed directly in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening. In the heat of battle, your squad relies on you. Don't let them down. Unlock elite gaming tech at Lenovo.com. Dominate every match with next level speed, seamless streaming and performance that won't quit.

Push your gameplay beyond performance with Intel Core Ultra processors for the next era of gaming. Upgrade to smooth high-quality streaming with Intel Wi-Fi 6E and maximize game performance with enhanced overclocking. Win the tech search. Power up at Lenovo.com. Hello, I'm Jorge Ramos. This week, on the moment, we take a look at Venezuela's uncertain future

in a conversation with two people who have directly advised U.S. presidents. Juan Gonzalez, during the Obama and Biden administrations, we're really good at invading countries. We're very bad at nation building. In Carlos D.Rosillo, we're in Trump's two terms. I can guarantee you that nobody in the Trump administration likes Delsi Rodriguez. Listen to the moment with Jorge Ramos and Paola Ramos on the IHA radio app, podcast or whatever you get your podcasts.

Are you desperately hoping for change in 2026, but feeling stuck? I'm Dr. Laurie Santos, and in a new year series of my show, The Happiness Lab, I'm going to look at the science of getting, well, unstuck at work, unstuck in your relationships, and even unstuck inside your mind. I am the absolute worst call for it when it comes to getting into these ruminative loops and just driving myself crazy. Listen to the Happiness Lab on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your shows. Hey everybody, it's Michelle Williams, host of checking in on the Black Effect

Podcast Network. You know, we always say New Year, New Me, but Real Change starts on the inside. It starts with giving your mind and your spirit the same attention you give your goals. And on my podcast, we talk mental health, healing, growth, and everything you need to step into your next season, whole and empowered. New Year, Real You. Listen to Checking in with Michelle Williams from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.