1/7/26 Blog: Why Did Trump Leave Venezuela's VP In Charge?

WEATHER WEDNESDAY AT 12:30 And just in time for a major weather change tomorrow we talk to Fox 31's Chief Meteorologist Dave Fraser about what we can expect tomorrow.

WHAT'S THE LATEST IN REGENERATIVE MEDICINE? My friend and owner of Regen Rev is back to talk about the cool stuff they have brought into the practice that takes care of you mind and body. Make your appointment by clicking here. Plan to come to the New Year, New YOU event on February 12th too!

WHY TRUMP LEFT VENEZUELA'S VICE PRESIDENT IN CHARGE I've been asking this question since last weekend, especially when there was an opposition leader who clearly won the last election. This article (thanks, Joe for sending it) has done the best job yet of explaining why Darcy Rodriguez is being allowed to stick around. It has to do with her former role as Oil minister, but the decision was made by the Trump admin, not the oil companies. This part of the story is interesting:

In a Bloomberg Television appearance Monday, Greylock Capital Management Chief Executive Hans Humes, who is part of the creditor committee of Venezuela’s sovereign debt, reiterated what some global oil executives have said in private regarding Rodríguez: “If you want somebody who can operate in reasonably OK conditions, get the person who operated in the worst conditions,” he said.

He added that Trump was making a big gamble, one that if successful, could “reorder the entire energy configuration of the world.”

That conclusion dovetailed with a Central Intelligence Agency report that one person familiar with the matter said senior US officials had recently commissioned to examine near-term succession scenarios. The document drew on numerous intelligence sources including open-source and human collection, and was meant to give Trump the best information possible as he considered the operation, according to the person.

The fact that they are trying to avoid a complete power vacuum is admirable, but I am still in favor of free and fair elections for the Venezuelan people. Hopefully President Rodriguez can be reasonable and also keep the military under control, although I'm sure they are still shocked at how weakly they defended their corrupt leader from our military action. I also think it's interesting that the oil companies are rushing to let everyone know they had nothing to do with this.

ELI LAKE IN THE FREE PRESS IS WORTH READING And I'm talking to Eli about his coverage of Venezuela and how our arrest of Maduro will absolutely not embolden our enemies here. He also did a great piece on the quiet rise of Marco Rubio here that is really, really good.

HOW MEDICAID INVITES FRAUD This is a great column about how the structure of Medicaid invites a very high level of fraud. It's not surprising at all, and part of it explains why our Governor is so quick to cut services for disabled people the program is designed to serve over cutting those who were part of the Obamacare expansion. Read this bit:

Because ACA enrollees receive more federal dollars than traditional Medicaid, state policymakers are incentivized to prioritize serving more Medicaid expansion enrollees (the slightly less poor) over those in traditional Medicaid (the poorest Americans). 

That explains why we aren't kicking people who were part of the Medicaid expansion onto Obamacare's exchange, where they would likely have most if not all of their monthly premiums subsidized. But that wouldn't allow Colorado to continue to game the system to get more federal dollars. I think the Republican candidate for Governor, whoever that is, should make a full audit of Medicaid and campaign point. Just to insure we aren't seeing the level of fraud they are in other states. And then actually do that.

WE NEED TO STOP WITH THE THERAPY TALK I realize that most of us don't do resolutions, but most of us have tried to commit to being better at some point in our life and failed miserably. This article says part of the reason we fail is the rise of "therapy speak". This makes me CRAZY. Not every ahole is "toxic", sometimes they are just an ahole. Read here how giving yourself a pass for current behavior because of past trauma in your life is a cop out that is hurting you and the people around you. Young people have adopted therapy speak as their love language, it makes me nuts.

YOU'VE HAD YEARS TO GET UP TO DATE ON YOUR STUDENT LOAN So don't be mad if I'm not upset that wages will be garnished by the Federal Government if you're not. After YEARS of warnings, the feds are about to start garnishing wages unless you make a deal to get caught up. Here's the thing about the federal government: they just want their money. If you make a good faith effort to set up a repayment plan that works for you, they will work with you. Just stop sticking your head in the sand and figure it out.

COLORADO REJECTS TINA PETERS MOTIONS And in this case Colorado has the law and precedent on their side. As the Constitution grants the power to run elections to the states, and she was convicted in state court of state crimes relating that elections, Trump's pardon means nothing, not matter what happened during the Whiskey Rebellion in the 1700s. That's the "case law" that Peters desperate attorneys are leaning on. They are wrong. Read more here.

CANADIANS ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE KILLED BY THE STATE THAN A GUNSHOT This is so crazy. But this is what happens when government runs healthcare and they want to control costs. Canadian Medical Assistance In Dying is the state sanctioned suicide plan for people suffering from terminal illnesses. At least that's what it was and I get that, wanting to avoid a long painful death that you know is coming. But what it has turned into is a tragedy, and now MAID is one of the leading causes of death in Canada! Mentally ill people are now ending their own lives with help from the state. I find this all horrible. This author reminds us that Sarah Palin was called a kook for saying that nationalized healthcare would lead to "death panels" where bureaucrats would decide who would live and who would die. And here we are. Read this:

To put things into perspective, 2023’s recorded figure gives us a per capita rate of 37 MAID suicides per 100,000 people. During the same year, the United States reported 17,927 firearm homicides, resulting in a per capita rate of five gun-related murders per 100,000 people.

Even if you combine 2023’s firearm homicides with all other gun-related deaths from that year, including suicides (27,300), law enforcement-related shootings (604), accidental shooting deaths (463), and what the CDC calls “undetermined circumstances” (434), that gives us a rate of only 13.7 gun-related deaths per 100,000 people, compared to Canada’s rate of 37 MAID suicides per 100,000.

Put another way, a Canadian is nearly three times more likely to die by MAID than an American is to die by a gunshot, whether intentional or not.

So please shut up about the Canadian healthcare system.

ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF A MARKET CRASH Before you even click this link know that you won't find a definitive answer about whether or not the market will crash this year. No one knows, but the probability is low. I am including it for this line:

As star fund manager Peter Lynch observed: “Far more money has been lost by investors trying to anticipate corrections, or trying to time the market, than has been lost in the corrections themselves.”

Don't panic. Just stay the course. We will recover.

WHAT FRESH HELL WILL THE COLORADO LEGISLATURE UNLEASH? This column about the priorities of our Legislators made me sort of laugh. Does anyone think MORE government intervention is going to make things affordable? If they want to pass laws requiring that permitting be done in a timely fashion so stuff can get built that would be great. But I'm sure they will come up with a bunch of new government programs designed to give money away instead. Just get the government out of the damn way. The Colorado Chamber is asking them to just not make things worse.

THE STOCK SHOW PARADE IS THURSDAY And I'm never going to get to go to this because it's during my show, but if you're going I'd love to have you as my Cub Reporter from the parade. And of course the weather is going to be crappy. Read more here.

HOW JAPAN TEACHES ROAD SAFETY TO KIDS This is a great idea.

HOW CROWDS MAKE US DUMBER Peer pressure is powerful.

GIRL SCOUT COOKIES ARE HERE TO RUIN YOUR RESOLUTIONS And before you get held up by those adorable little scamps outside grocery stores you can read this to decide your poison.

MORE COPS = LESS CRIME FOR RTD Crime dropped on and around RTD assets dramatically in 2025. You might be able to ride a train without smelling meth! This part jumped out:

RTD Chief of Police Steve Martingano pointed Denver7 to a growing police force, stronger fare enforcement and the addition of an in-house detective bureau as key drivers for the change.

What? You mean making sure scumbags aren't riding the train with more cops worked? Wow! I wish we'd thought of that sooner.

DOES A BIGGER HOME BRING HAPPINESS? I was just talking to a work colleague who just sold his home and is now renting. The combination of upkeep and rising property taxes led him and his wife to sell their "dream" home in Highlands Ranch to embrace someone else taking care of what went wrong. This story says that more and more people are less and less happy with their big homes and I have to say, I am among them and my home isn't that big. I can't wait to retire and downsize.

DON'T TEASE YOUR DOG LIKE THIS It's just mean if she didn't immediately go outside to play ball with treats.

DON'T WASTE YOUR LIFE Charlie Munger, the longtime partner of Warren Buffet, gives the best advice.

WARREN BUFFET HAS ADVICE TOO

AYN RAND GOT IT BACK IN THE 60S When she wrote this.

HERE ARE THE VIDEOS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS ICE SHOOTING from a bunch of angles, none of which are super graphic but someone does get shot so you've been warned.