Thoughts On - Trump Attacks Venezuela. Updated.

 Hi Everybody,                                                                                                           3rd - 4th Jan 2026

                      We hear news from the other side of the pond that President Trump has just had a tizzy and commanded US forces to attack Venezuela, abducting the sitting president on the justification that they are moving drugs to the USA, which they have been doing. But the US has been blowing the boats out of the water, against International law, stop and seize, not kill them. They also swiped a couple of Venezuelan oil tankers, in part reparation for what the government is owed in the past, but I thought that was called by it's other name. piracy on the high seas?

 The Venezuelan President and first lady had been flown to New York and are being kept under guard.

                      Right off the bat. I would like to say I am not an expert in this matter, and this is only my humble opinion, whether the actions that they have taken are internationally legal or not. Could the armed forces be charged with unlawfully kidnapping a foreign head of state? Did I hear that they had been planning this move for months? So much for the Nobel Peace Prize.

                    What it will allow him to say now is that Venezuelan immigrants now pose a threat to the USA, so ICE can pick them off the streets as they please, hopefully for them with no comeback, whether that is true or not is debatable.

                    His pal "Big Bad Vlad" must be laughing his socks off right about now. There will be no more supposedly "moral high ground" for Donald to perch on when he calls him next. Not that it was making any difference. I would love to read a transcript of a few of those calls, but I don't suppose they keep them at the White House, otherwise known as the fun factory.

I am awaiting more news. Here we go - 

HEADLINE: Trump to run the country until transition.

Two points regarding that: Firstly, he cannot run the government that he has now competently, let alone take on another one that will actively be working against him. Secondly, once he does have power in there, that just means his cronies can move in and asset-strip the place as he has done with the USA, while no one is looking, or maybe he is past caring if they see or not.

Next in his sights, we hear it may be Canada or possibly Greenland. More of his allies to duff up. If you read it in a novel, you would think the plot was far-fetched. But here we are. Strange days indeed. He is totally off his trolley, but no one seems to care. Is this the beginning of the end for the USA?

Good luck, everybody,

Ivor Cogdell

Thoughts On - Life and Trump (Updated)

 Hey Y'all,                                                                                                                    1st November 2024

                 Another quick update for you. I have been doing my 72 mm Vikings, the base painting is pretty well complete on them, as you cannot see much detail on that scale. I will mount them onto lolly sticks for the time being. I will be able to test the Oathmark rules with them, to see if they are to my taste before I buy the books and models. My pal Richard J, has bought the rules and the makings of an army for me to attack. (The figures he bought were 10 mm scale, my 72 mm Viking warriors were too big and did not fit. Such is life.)

 How Richard managed to paint that small is beyond me, I had a hard time painting my Vikings, compared to my usual 28 mm figures.

15th November -  We did a test game and then tried a scenario from the rules (No 4.) Which I will do a quick description of later.

I have been helping a mate who has just had her flat broken in for the second time. It is very disheartening what people will do to other people.

Regards,

Ivor Cogdell

P.S. Good luck with the Election, America. You need it, as it is going to be close. I'm rooting for Kamala Harris, but I can't vote, I am not a US citizen.

P.P.S. - I was surprised to see that Buzz Aldrin is supporting Trump. I thought better of you. Everybody makes mistakes. Maybe Elon talked him into it.

18 November 2024.

P.P.P.S. After one week of being President-Elect, the Cabinet Trump has chosen is being hailed as the most incompetent ever. The Climate Change Electee is a Climate denier and is an Oil and Gas company man.

 Only now are Trump voters realising what Trump had been promising was directly opposite to their values and needs. The stock market is crashing. (One poll quoted a 75% chance of a recession coming). The care packages that many of them rely on are going to be ripped up. They just did not do research into what he was actually proposing, just listened to the slogans, guessing what they meant, following biased news channel broadcasts.