We’ll get started with our Down The Rabbit Hole segment in a few but first we have an “Enough Already” moment brought to us courtesy of Law 360. It falls into the “Spare us your phony technicalities” category as the US Supreme Court declined to hear litigation in which a Venezuela government-owned mining company sought to void a $12.7 million arbitration judgement against them claiming “proper service procedures were not followed”.

 We had a piece on this common Chavista scam a while ago. In any legal dispute anywhere, process servers must present documents for review by their legal adversaries. In Venezuela it’s a one way street. The Chavistas can get a judge to sign off on documents favoring their position almost instantaneously. When someone needs a judge to sign off on documents not favoring their position the 60 day time limit typically expires due to any number of reasons, normally bureaucratic related, which restrict transparency and availability (like you can’t find a judge).

 It’s good to hear the US Supreme Court basically telling the Chavistas “Pay up and get the hell out of here!”

 Then we have Semafor telling us that AI- generated avatars are being used to spread pro- Venezuela (pro- Maduro) propaganda in videos broadcast on Venezuela state TV. The videos were created using software designed by Synthesia, a London- based AI content generator.

 On a fictitious news channel, broadcast from a fictitious news studio, a fictitious newscaster, an English-speaking avatar, regurgitates Chavista talking points (we call them lies).

 Although the company’s software is primarily used for human resources and training videos, the New York Times and El Pais report it’s now widely used for propaganda, not only by the Chavistas but by China and the Burkina Faso military. Now the world’s Human Rights abusers can lie to us in person or using avatars… Another amazing technological advancement. The Chavistas, the Chinese, and the Burkina Faso military…Can I say it? Enough already!

 Then we have rfi telling us that a woman dies every two minutes due to pregnancy or childbirth complications, despite maternal mortality rates dropping by a third in the last 20 years, according to the UN.

 In some places the maternal mortality rate has increased…and what country has had the highest rate of increase? Surely it’s one of those in a conflict zone right? Well, no …you guessed it…it’s Venezuela.

 They mentioned that the rates in conflict zones like Syria, Yemen, Sub-Saharan Africa, etc. are twice the global average due to the conflict-created humanitarian crises. They gloss right over the fact that the highest rate, not to mention the world’s highest migration (7.1 million and counting), has no conflict or natural disaster to cause their humanitarian crisis. They only have the self-inflicted wound of Chavismo and 21st Century Bolivarian Socialism.

 And we have JD Supra telling us that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals handed the US Justice Department a victory reversing an “out-of-whack” trial judge’s dismissal of two separate criminal indictments that were consolidated on appeal.

 The DOJ filed charges against two US-based business persons for bribing Venezuela officials at PDVSA (Venezuela government-owned oil company) for favorable treatment. The trial judge dismissed the case against the two defendants, ruling that the FCPA (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act) and the Anti-Money Laundering statutes did not apply.

 “On occasion, it is evident that some trial judges will reach a result-oriented decision without proper regard for court precedent or the literal terms of the statute. The Fifth Circuit’s lengthy and perhaps critical decision underscores the failure of a district judge to adhere to the law and relevant precedent.”

 Without getting too deep in the “legal weeds”, the Fifth Circuit basically shot down all the claims made by the defense and upheld by the judge when he dismissed the case(s). We need to see more of this along with possible censure for these judges that follow their own agenda and not the law. This trial judge operated like a Chavista… “The Law is what we say it is.”

 Now, let’s head Down The Rabbit Hole…

BULLETS continued…

…10/ Maduro’s government food program, CLAP, isn’t a solution. It’s a political weapon and a corrupt mechanism to enrich himself and other Chavistas. See chapter 7

 11/ Venezuela has (had) the world’s cheapest gasoline, but not to benefit the people. It’s used, through illegal trafficking, to buy loyalty from the military. See chapter 8

 12/ Venezuela’s (Maduro’s) “Mining Arc” is environmentally reprehensible, threatens indigenous peoples, and is another means to buy loyalty from the military. See chapter 9

 13/ The government ID card, “Carnet de la Patria” (Homeland Card), is just another means of oppression through the weaponization (extortion) of government benefits. See chapter 10

 14/ The Maduro regime constantly displays a blatant disregard for it’s Constitution, which was rewritten by it’s icon, and Chavismo namesake, Hugo Chavez. See chapter 11

 15/ The Supreme Court of Venezuela (TSJ) is completely non-independent and is solely an extension of the executive branch. See chapter 12

 16/ Many US critics refuse to denounce the regime of Nicolas Maduro and yet refer with horror (and rightfully so) to the US support for the Pinochet regime in Chile a few decades ago. Pinochet’s death squads were responsible for approximately 3,000 extrajudicial killings (some say as many as 7,000) over his 17 year reign. How do they reconcile that with the Maduro regime being responsible for approximately 7,000 extrajudicial killings in just the last 18 months? (1,400 extrajudicial killings per year, on average, since Maduro took power) See chapter 14

 17/ With over 7.1 million Venezuela migrants and counting, why the disproportional international media coverage of Syrian and Ukrainian migrants? See chapter 13

 18/ Venezuela has no free speech, no free press, and no Human Rights…Period! See chapter 16

 19/ Venezuelans wish they had a 2nd Amendment. See chapter 15

 More tomorrow….