Right out of the classic Harrison Ford movie and Tom Clancy novel named Clear and Present Danger.

a carefully crafted cruise missle attack could do it, but we wouldnt want to be responsible for that

Mass extermination of citizens - You're right. That is probably next, but who is going to displace Maduro?

Who is John Galt?

I have gut feelings about certain politicians. I say that in the quiet of the voting booth, when voters detect really nasty and evil inner natures in the politicians, they just vote the other way at the last minute. Hillary had an evil streak carefully covered over by a thin veneer of civility. Warren is just plain nasty, as is Harris and Spartacus. I dont think they will ever be president. Possibly vice president, but that may not happen either, since if the president dies we all could be stuck with one of them.

I think Maduro is pretty much done except for mass extermination of citizens. The people are still socialists, but I think they are convinced that Maduro "just didnt do it right"

Don't forget former President Zero and Fauxcahontas.

I routinely buy from Chinese vendors via EBay to get components for my tissue engineering test beds.

As with all looters, they need you to need them.

This is new to me. Thank you for the education.

speaking of Ayn Rand, I just watched a 4 part documentary type YouTube video series on her by Stefan Molyneux entitled "the truth about Ayn Rand". Its like 6 hours total, but he goes through her early life and her philosophy in a pretty fair way I thought. You probably already heard of this guy, but its an interesting series. I really didnt know much about her early life.

ya think? I would actually prefer to deal with chinese vendors, as they are really into customer service and will bend over backwards to compete with each other to serve us customers. American companies have gotten lazy, as have american workers unfortunately.

count me in for a go fund it page. start with Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, AOC, O'Rourke, Kamala, and Spartacus.

He doesnt want "his people" to see that others can do more to help them than HE can (or will). His motto isnt "let them eat cake- its more like "let them starve"

I have a friend who does business in China regularly, and he agrees that competition is tough over there, but in many industries regulations are much looser than they are here.

Regarding China, my university's former and current president went to Shenzhen and several other major Chinese cities about ten years ago and said that, in many ways, they were more capitalistic than the USA.

Fox News had an American socialist on, and when asked to point to any successful socialist country, he launched into the usual song and dance about how successful Cuba and Venezuela would be if the U.S. wasn't busy "oppressing" them.

That's always the excuse, that the only reason socialism fails is because of evil capitalists' dastardly machinations. When I point to a very successful capitalist country that tried socialism and gave up on it, Sweden, socialists are stumped to explain it. They often try to point to China, but they have no answer when I point out that China didn't begin to succeed until they found a way to incorporate capitalism into their authoritarian rule.

"Four legs good, two legs bad". - George Orwell's Animal Farm

This is exactly what happens in Animal Farm. I always thought that the book was a bit of a ridiculous parody....but time proves it to be entirely accurate. It is almost like a chemical reaction....mix fuel and oxidizer in the proper proportions, introduce a spark and you get an explosion. Mix Marxist socialism with a thriving economy with no restraints on the leadership group and you get starvation, misery a collapsed economy and dead people.

A similar story to Ayn Rand.

I've mentioned here before that I got to know two families who escaped Venezuela in the past decade. Their stories are very sobering. The second family to make the escape almost didn't make it - had to lie to their own family "Oh, we'll be back Monday..." and flee in the midnight hour.

How much would it cost (or save?) if we paid all expenses for all looters to have one-way tickets (without passports) down to Caracas?

This moron is beating the war drum against America, as though we're a threat. It needs to be pointed out by the highest official in our land that all we need to do is sit idly by and watch this collectivist mess collapse. I'd even throw in that it's a free education for America's children. I'd thank Maduro for it. I'd even thank Russia for getting involved...

A friend of mine whose son lives in Chile told me yesterday that Maduro sent troops into a neighborhood and machine gunned people! I am trying to fact check this.

Once tried, the need for altruism seems more addictive and more dangerous than heroin.