blessingx

Trump told The Atlantic on Sunday that Rodriguez could face a fate similar to Maduro, who is being detained in federal prison in New York on narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges, if she doesn’t align with U.S. interests. “If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro,” Trump said. The comment marks a stark reversal from Trump’s praise of Rodriguez in a press conference Saturday following the attack. The president said U.S. officials had spoken with Rodriguez, and reported that “she’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again.” https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/04/trump-warns-acting-venezuelan-leader-00710314

Trump renews push to annex Greenland after Venezuela strike https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/01/04/greenland-trump-venezuela/88018306007/

'Weeks earlier, U.S. officials had already settled on an acceptable candidate to replace Mr. Maduro, at least for the time being: Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who had impressed Trump officials with her management of Venezuela’s crucial oil industry. The people involved in the discussions said intermediaries persuaded the administration that she would protect and champion future American energy investments in the country. “I’ve been watching her career for a long time, so I have some sense of who she is and what she’s about,” said one senior U.S. official, referring to Ms. Rodríguez. “I’m not claiming that she’s the permanent solution to the country’s problems, but she’s certainly someone we think we can work at a much more professional level than we were able to do with him,” the official added, referring to Mr. Maduro. It was an easy choice, the people said. Mr. Trump had never warmed up to the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who had organized a winning presidential campaign in 2024, earning her the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Since Mr. Trump’s re-election, Ms. Machado has gone out of her way to please him, calling him a “champion of freedom,” mimicking his talking points on election fraud in the United States and even dedicating her Peace Prize to him. It was in vain. On Saturday, Mr. Trump said he would accept Ms. Rodríguez, saying that Ms. Machado lacked the “respect” needed to govern Venezuela. U.S. officials say that their relationship with Ms. Rodríguez’s interim government will be based on her ability to play by their rules, adding that they reserve the right to take additional military action if she fails to respect America’s interests. Despite Ms. Rodríguez’s public condemnation of the attack, a senior U.S. official said that it was too soon to draw conclusions about what her approach would be and that the administration remained optimistic that they could work with her. ... For all her technocratic leanings, Ms. Rodríguez has never denounced the brutal repression and corruption sustaining Mr. Maduro’s rule, once calling her decision to join the government an act of “personal revenge” for her father’s death in prison in 1976, after being interrogated by intelligence agents from pro-U.S. governments.' https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/04/world/americas/trump-venezuela-leader-rodriguez-machado.html?smid=url-share

^

The United States is going to be “very strongly involved” in Venezuela’s oil industry after the operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump told Fox News on Saturday. He said: We have the greatest oil companies in the world, the biggest, the greatest, and we’re going to be very much involved in it. https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/03/caracas-explosions-venezuela-maduro-latest-news-updates-live The stolen oil… NYT

Any guess who we’re going to invade next? From a week ago: https://www.theguardian.com/law/ng-interactive/2025/dec/25/how-donald-trump-killed-international-law

Philippine Airlines inflight safety videos

... But her artistic mishap created an economic boon for Borja, a town of 5,000 inhabitants. Tourists flocked to see her efforts. Less than three years later, more than 150,000 visitors from Japan, Brazil, the United States and elsewhere had made a trip to Borja, paying one euro, about $1.20, to view her work under a protective clear cover. Local officials told The Times in 2014 that the tourism spike had stabilized the town’s restaurant industry and helped the area’s institutions. The nearby Museo de la Colegiata, which houses religious medieval art, experienced a rise in annual visits to 70,000, from 7,000. Vineyards in the region squabbled over the rights to put Mrs. Giménez’s Christ on their labels. In 2016, two Americans even staged an opera about the affair in the same church. Mrs. Giménez, once ridiculed, became a beloved figure, even handing out prizes for a competition of young artists who had painted their own “Ecce Homo” portraits. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/30/world/europe/spain-jesus-fresco-restoration-painter-gimenez-dead.html

RIP Cecilia Giménez, painting restorer https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/30/cecilia-gimenez-monkey-christ-mural-dies-spain

Browsing through the Decca catalog, including titles not on streaming services (at least outside YT and that I can find). PIOMBO – Italian Crime Soundtracks from the Years of Lead (1973-1981)

Just noticed https://shop.decca.com/products/john-coltrane-a-love-supreme-cassette

Why I Quit Streaming And Got Back Into Cassettes https://www.404media.co/why-i-quit-streaming-and-got-back-into-cassettes/

Plur1bus season finale

It tasted shockingly like the apple pie. 😜

Thank you everyone! Chill day with the in-laws. Whisky, apple pie and a rumored cake later. Hope everyone is having a Merry Midsommar!

Because of this song every year will be a little 2017.

Jon Caramanica, NYTimes Pop Critic, Best Album of 2025 1. Effie, ‘Pullup to Busan 4 More Hyper Summer It’s Gonna Be a Fuckin Movie’ The rising Korean hyperpop star Effie is a heretical innovator, and this six-song EP — her best music in a year of several releases — feels like a deeply logical eruption. Imbibing from the spirit of 100 gecs, the freedom of 2hollis, and the pop scramble that often defines the best K-pop (a scene Effie exists outside of), her approach adds up to the sound of right this second. And also, undoubtedly, of tomorrow. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/arts/music/best-albums-2025.html

Effie's pullup to busan 4 morE hypEr summEr it’s gonna be a fuckin moviE EP Full EP...

Tracey Thorn‘s Tinsel and Lights

50th Anniversary of Vince Guaraldi’s Jazz Mass at Grace Cathedral Part One Part Two

We caught up with one of the kids who sang on 'A Charlie Brown Christmas.' He's 72 now. https://www.npr.org/2025/12/19/nx-s1-5640171/a-charlie-brown-christmas-christmastime-is-here-peanuts-schulz

Not to put too much weight on two photographs And in Sept. (center)