2026 rant. #103

We reflect on the U.S. capture of Nicolás Maduro, a deadly ICE encounter in Minnesota, and what responsible power looks like in a polarized country. We weigh deterrence abroad, rule of law at home, and the role of faith, media, and policy in restoring trust.

• limited, targeted use of force in Venezuela
• deterrence versus forever wars
• international law, sovereignty, and enforcement
• Minnesota ICE shooting and dual truths of grief and law
• polarization driven by media ecosystems and algorithms
• War Powers debate and constitutional roles
• leverage through energy, allies, and signaling
• defense waste, fraud, and smarter strength
• Virginia amendments on abortion, marriage, voting, maps
• faith, prayer, and the witness of martyrdom

Go to church, read your Bible, evangelize the people

Chapters

• 0:00 New Year Rant And Setup
• 1:27 Maduro Capture And Old-School Policy
• 3:29 Limited Missions And Zero Fatalities
• 6:43 Deterrence Strikes And Precedent
• 8:30 Minnesota ICE Tragedy And Responsibility
• 12:45 Order, Compassion, And Tribalism
• 15:48 Live Reaction To The Raid
• 19:13 Sovereignty, Oil Leverage, And Hemisphere
• 22:36 War Powers And Presidential Strikes
• 26:24 Greenland Pressure And Great-Power Signaling
• 29:36 Socialism’s Failures In The Americas
• 32:18 Minnesota Fraud Claims And ICE Shooting
• 36:41 Free Speech Violence And Moral Lines
• 41:13 Obeying Law, Protest Limits, And Doxxing

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:15

Hello everyone, welcome back to Overopinion Edit. If you hear any background noise, that is just my wife working a little bit in the kitchen. Um Happy New Year. It is the 2026 It is the 2026 year rant as we did the 2025 year rant in January. I waited a few more days than I wanted to. I was sick. That's why I had my sister on the last episode to talk about Stranger Things. She did a lot of talking and uh helping me when I was a little sick. Um that's two years in a row of been sick at the start of new year at the end of Christmas, so hopefully we end this year a little bit better and start the new year a little bit better. But um, I hope everyone's having a good 2026 so far. The United States certainly had an interesting one. Last week, the United States acted like a sovereign power again. The capture of Nicholas Maduro matters. This wasn't nation building, this wasn't an occupying force, this wasn't another generation sent out to a desert with no exit plan. This was a target strategy against a narco-terrorist whose regime flooded our streets with drugs and whose corruption helped kill Americans. He wasn't a misunderstood politician, he was a criminal hiding behind a flag, and the United States treated him like one. That's not radical. That's old school American foreign policy. The Monroe Doctrine wasn't a suggestion, and it's not one now. The Western Hemisphere is not open the Western Hemisphere is not an open playground for hostile powers, criminal regimes, or dictators backed by Russia and China. When the United States enforces order in its own hemisphere, that isn't imperialism, it's responsibility. Power in a vacuum doesn't disappear. It gets filled by worse actors. There is no true vacuum. And let's be clear, this is not an endless war, and if it ever became one, I'd be the first to tell you that we should not be there. The mission was clear, limited, and decisive. And America service members came through home alive. Zero U.S. casualties, that matters. Forgive me, I misspoke. Zero uh soldiers being killed. We technically there was some casualties. There were we had some wounded, but no one died. But that matters. We should say it out loud because our country deserves that recognition. The simple principle applied to this this strike against ISIS in the Middle East. This wasn't about restarting the forever war, it was about deterrence. When Americans are murdered, the response should be should not be a hard-line press conference. It should be swift with brutal force. Justice doesn't always wear a robe. Sometimes it arrives at night precisely and leaves. We've seen this before. President Obama crossed into Pakistan without permission to eliminate bin Laden that violated another country's sovereignty. And it was the right call. I said it then and I'm consistent now. When a clear fret exists, President's Act, it's not tyranny, it's the job. Now, closer to home, we need to talk about a tragedy in Minnesota. A woman dead after an ICE operation that should sober everyone of decent conscience. A human life loss is always tragic, full stop, but tragedy does not erase responsibility. She refused lawful commands, fled federal law enforcements, and used her vehicle in a way that put an agent's life at risk. The officer acted within their authority. Both things can be true at the same time. We can grieve the death and still say the law was enforced correctly. Conservatives don't need to pretend death doesn't matter, and we don't need to lie about facts to prove our point. Order and compassion are not enemies. Some on the left mocked Charlie Kirk's death while demanding moral outrages in other cases like this. Some on the right shut down emotional shut down emotionally the moment the media starts chanting. That's not justice, that's tribalism. A serious nation doesn't run on mockery, selective empathy, or permanent outrage. It runs on truth, law, and moral clarity. Also rules on the sovereignty of God. Today's conversation about strength without cruelty, enforcement, without hatred, and unity, without surrender. America doesn't need to apologize for acting like a nation. It needs to remember how to do it well and without shame. Guys, so me personally, um, when we captured Maduro just a couple days after New Year's, I was up quite I was up quite late last weekend talking to some friends, and I was amazed because I saw it happen in live real lifetime on my cell phone just moments after the US military struck with awe and wonder of how great our military is. I'm I'm an awe and wonder of how great our military is to capture a foreign dictator within three hours. Um the left says that this is horrible. It's against international law. Oh, whatever. I I see your international law. Enforce it. I see your international law that's propped up as by the UN, by the which is in the United States, it's in New York, and um it's propped up by the West. I see your international law. Enforce it. Do you want to enforce it when we have uh Uyghurs in Chinese concentration camps? Are you going to enforce it when Russia invades Ukraine in a comp in a war that's been going on for over three years? You want to enforce it when human rights violations truly happen? Or do you want to complain and cry when we captured a dictator that has not won a legitimate election? This government has not won a legitimate election. The socialists have not won a legitimate election for several years. They were fueling um drugs into the United States. So, yes, I support this. I'm glad we got Madeira. I'm glad that we're taking their oil to force them to have a legitimate election. Oh, it's about the oil. You're gonna steal the oil, heck yeah, we're gonna take the oil. Um, to force them to have a legitimate election. And um, well, this is just imperialism, I don't care what you call it. The United States of America is a global superpower, and we need to flex our muscles. Now, does that mean I want to be everywhere? No, but inside our own hemisphere, we that doesn't mean I want to start a war with every country in our hemisphere, but we must protect our interest in our hemisphere, and don't it is our hemisphere. The Americas are for America. You can call me imperialist, you can call me cold-hearted. I really don't care. Because if we don't take care of our hemisphere, China and Russia will. This is hurting China, what we're doing in Venezuela right now. They're not getting nearly as much oil. So, yes. Um, I support this. Remember, please remember this. Um, they're bringing up that Congress has a right to declare war, that's true. But for the last modern history, we've accepted that presidents can strike, can strike their enemies um without congressional approval in limited spaces. And then if we go into a country that Congress votes, that's just the way it's done. You can say it's unconstitutional. It's the way we've done it, it's the way Barack Obama did it. Um with I mean Obama droned a lot of people, guys. A lot. And some of it was necessary. I'm not saying all of it was, and I'm not saying America's always done the greatest things and brightest things when it comes to foreign policy. I understand that we've made mistakes, but we're not China, we're not Russia. There is a difference. And um when it comes to this Greenland thing, I I support that. I don't support invading Greenland or an forcefully annexing it that way, but putting pressure on the Danish to uh have a ref uh independence referendum, that's a win for America if we could do that. And yeah, I I I kind of want the Europeans, I kind of want the Russians, the Chinese to think we got a wild man in charge. And he might just do anything, he just kidnapped the dictator of a press, um, the dictator of a country that was killing people. That's a win-win, guys. It's a win-win. Um we are the biggest economic power in the world. We have the greatest military in the history of the world. I actually I'm unlike most Republicans. I actually think we should cut our military a little bit, um, to put into uh honestly healthcare. Uh but I would be on the slim side of majority. But I still want us to have the best military, and we still would. I uh and I kind of want to just get fraud out of uh I kind of just want to get fraud out of um our military, you know. Um if we get that out, then put the other money in places it could go, even if we just directed it back into the military, because the fraud from the military it hurts me, it hurts you, it hurts the military, because we're paying for it, and it's not going to what we need. But um, I'm getting beyond the point. So, yes, I support us trying to get Greenland putting pressure on them for peaceful means, and that's what we're doing right now, okay? We're not invading, we're we're talking a big game, but we're we haven't invaded, we're not going to invade Greenland. If we do, I'll apologize and say I was wrong. And for everyone that keeps saying that, well, Latin America is poor because of the United States of America, maybe there's some nuances there. Maybe we've had some places, and obviously we've done some things that haven't helped. Uh, but if I look at this, Cuba is a socialist communist country. Venezuela was once one of the richest countries in their area, and now they're in shambles. Maybe it's not the United States, maybe it's not just the sanctions. Maybe you have to factor in all of that with the fact that socialism really does suck. It really does not work. It really does kill people. It does. Um it promises you the world, it promises to get rid of monopolies and get enrich and help the poor people, and then it creates the biggest monopoly that's ever existed, which is a big government. A well, not even a big government. Okay, you could argue that the United States and the military is a big government, a monster of a government that controls every aspect of your life. Um, and if you don't submit to the party, then um you're in bad shape. Um, let's go over to Minnesota. This YouTuber named Nick, he's a MAGA YouTuber. I followed him before this happened. Um you can call him a right-wing journalist if you want. He went to Minnesota around a bunch of Somali daycare centers, and he found a bunch of fraud. And you if you want to debate how how much fraud there is and how truthful the video is, you can go watch and determine it for yourself. But there's definitely fraud in Minnesota, so much so, and so much pressure that um the governor Tim Walls, the former nominee, uh Democrat nominee to become vice president and to become one heartbeat away from the presidency, has dropped out of his re-election bid. So there's now the the uh Minnesota is now under uh the eye of the federal government. We've sent in ICE agents to enforce our law and to deport illegal uh illegal immigrants. There's a woman in a car with her wife that uh got in the way of a federal uh ice agent. The ICE agent told her to get out of the car. They were both being very loud, obnoxious. Um there were bad whistles, and uh he told her to stop the car. She didn't, she accelerated, she hit him. Maybe you could say he she didn't hit him hard. I understand. But if you're put yourself in the shoes of that police officer, I mean that ice officer, you don't know if she's gonna how hard she's going to keep accelerating. He pulled out his gun, he and he shot her and killed her. It's a horrible tragedy. Um and I I am deeply saddened for her and her loved ones, her family, but let's just admit that um that this was not murder. And I don't know how you look at the footage of the ICE agents footage and say it was murder. And this is what concerns me is um we have two sides of America seeing the same video and coming out with very different outcomes because of their political preferences and biases. We have two different um notions about whose lives matter and who do we care about. America is extraordinarily polarized. When Charlie Kirk gets shot for just talking, just using his voice, and it seems like a a really good portion of the left, not a fringe view. There's always gonna be the fringe view. A good portion of the left celebrates deaf. University professors, higher ups, have lost their jobs. Some of them got away with it, but they'll eventually answer to a holy and righteous God. But um, for celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk. And yeah, we had fringes on the right doing it, and you shouldn't do it. If you do it, I'm gonna say you're wrong. No one should celebrate the death of this one. We can say that the ICE officer's not a murderer. You should listen to ICE agents. You should listen to your authority, Tim Walls, and not threatened. Oh, we'll get to Tim Walls in a second, who's been very close to borderline treason. But um, yeah, you should listen to your federal agents. Romans 13 says to obey to obey the government. Um I understand, not everyone's Christian. But if you don't obey the government and bad stuff happens, they're not being tyrannical to you. Oh, but ISIS is being tyrannical. No, they're not. They're enforcing immigration law. That's what they're doing. They're enforcing immigration law. You can say, I don't like how the way they're doing something, or I can criticize this or that, and you do have the right to protest, but that right to protest is limited to peaceful protest. You don't have the right to violent protest. You don't, and I think people are getting that confused. Because violent protest is morally wrong, and you don't have the right to do it not under the constitution. Um and if you have to answer the consequences for that, that's on that's on you. If you want to be a violent person. Uh if you want to uh obstruct justice, if you want to get in the way of agents, make them have a hard day. If you're going to dox them, people are doxing this guy on the internet. Him and his family, pictures of him and his wife are on the internet now because he got hit by a car and shot someone. That's awful. We need to pray for him. We need to pray for his family. I really believe that we are I believe the United States of America is basically two or three at least two different countries in one. We hate each other. We are very polarized. I told a friend this last year, he didn't believe me. He said, I I think you're on Twitter too much. I said, Man, I'm telling you, this has nothing to with my screen time. We are so at each other's fruits, it's unimaginable. I'm not saying everyone, I'm not saying you can't have friends with people on the other side. You can't. But it feels like we're starting to live in a reality where that that's becoming harder and harder. That's scary, that's not a place that we want to be. One of the reasons one of the many reasons I think we're so polarized is how opposite our news media is. You read one news, you look you watch one news, and you find You hear one thing, then you hear the other, and the other sides aren't listening to each other's sources, which is dangerous. Always listen to each other's sources. Now that might not change your mind, but it adds more nuances to the conversation. And the more nuance and the more conversation we're having about these things instead of dog dogmatism is what um it's what keeps us from being so radicalized. And I want to read you guys. There's a news I'm very conservative. I'm openly conservative. I'm not news. This is not news, this is commentary. But I want to read you guys um a article from a site that I like that tries its best to be neutral. The way news, well, okay, the way news at least called itself at once. News has always had some of a bit, okay. And this probably has some of a bit too. But you should read stuff from the left and the right, and there needs to be a middle. So I'm gonna read you an article. Uh Senate advances measure to reign in Trump in Venezuela, January 8th, 2026, by Devin Perel. The Senate voted 52 to 47 to proceed with a resolution that could limit President Trump from launching further military action in Venezuela without congressional approval. While the majority of Republicans opposed the resolution uh resolution, a small group including Senator Rand Paul, Lisa McCowski, Susan Collins, Todd Young, and Josh Hawley voted to advance it. Legislative outcome, um, uncertain legislative outcome. Although the procedural Senate vote indicates potential passage in the chamber, the resolution faces uncertainty in the Republican-led House. The Senate voted 52 to 47 Thursday to take up a resolution that could prevent President Donald Trump from launching fervor military actions in Venezuela without congressional approval. The vote in response to specific forces operated last week that took Venezuelan President Nicolas Mandeiro and his wife into U.S. custody allows for a for a Senate debate on invoking the War of Powers Act. All Democrats and five Republicans voted to consider the resolution sponsored by Virginia Senator Tim Kane and Rand Paul, Kentucky. While the vote is uh while the vote it suggests the measure has enough support for a final passage in the Senate, it would then move to the House where Republicans hold a slim majority, a slimmer now after Representative Doug Limhoff of California passed away earlier this week. Besides, Paul, the Republican who voted for the proposal were Senator Mikowski, Alaska Collins of Maine, Young of Indiana, and Hawley of Missouri. In a post on Truth Social after the vote, Trump said the measure harms national security, and he attacked the Republicans who voted for it. Republicans should be ashamed of the senator that just voted with Democrats in an attempt to take away our powers to fight to defend the United States of America. Trump wrote Susan Collins, Lisa McCowski, Rand Paul, Josh Holly, and Todd Young should never be elected again. Several of the senators Trump chased in his post released responses on why they made their decision. Collins said in a statement in her vote, it was necessary due to the recent comments by the president. I believe invoking the War Powers Act at this moment is necessary given the president's comments about the possibility of boots on the ground and substantial engagement running Venezuela, which I do not agree with, she wrote. Holly sat at the Constitution in his decision saying a president should not get congressional approval, but should get congressional approval before conducting a military operation. Young said he supported Trump's action to capture Maduro, however, much like Hawley, Jung said the future military action needs congressional approval. President Trump campaigned against forever wars, and I strongly support him on that position, Jung said. A drawn-out campaign in Venezuela involving the American military, even if unattended, would be the opposite of President Trump's goal of ending forever entanglements. What does this mean? The vote allows for a full Senate vote next week. Only a simple majority is needed for passage. Paul said that some lawmakers want to shift the burden of infuing the war of the president rather than taking charge of themselves. But make no mistake, bombing another country's capital and removing their leader is an act of war, plain and simple, he said. No provision in the Constitution provides such power to the presidency. Would this pass the Republican-led House? If measures pass the Senate next week, it would move to the Republican controlled house, while it almost guaranteed that all Democrats will vote to approve the measure. It's much less certain if Republicans will. Representative Thomas Massey of Kentucky said the Trump administration contracted its legal justification over the strike. If this action were constitutionally sound, the Attorney General wouldn't be tweeting that the president arrested the president of a sovereign country and his wife for possessing guns in violation of a 1934 U.S. law, Massey wrote on a post on X. Even if the House votes in support of the bill, it would still need the president's signature, which is unlikely given the administration's recent comments on the strike. Thursday's Senate vote did not receive a veto-proof majority, and it's unlikely the measure would become law. So, regardless about how you feel about the situation at hand, that article was fairly neutral. It just gave you the facts. I I think you take that and put it in the Fox News or NBC, CNN, and you're getting a different article. So this I believe is what is partially um polarizing Americans so much. This and our algorithms, the more you like something on social media, the more they're going to push it up in your content. That's just the way it is. Do your job to not live in the echo chamber. You can have strong convictions. I have strong convictions. I have opinions that's that some Americans, the majority of Americans would disagree with me on with. Um to um Virginia. We have the four constitutional amendments uh that are coming up in Virginia. Um I hope everyone would vote no. We have the Reproductive Freedom Amendment, which means to kill babies on the Mantel Berth Amendment. This amendment will provide a constitutional right. It is your constitutional right, the the Commonwealth of Virginia, to abortion to kill your baby. This mandates on all health care professionals, insurance companies, Medicaid, and Medicare. That's horrible. Horrible. We don't want that going through. We don't want it. We don't want to uh make it a right to kill your baby up until the moment of birth. I'm actually reading this on vote no in Virginia, and I saw this from John Reed's page. Vote no in constitutional marriage. This marriage this amendment will remove all protections for churches, ministers, or other officials who have the authority to perform a marriage ceremony and to abstain from performing same-sex marriages. So they're gonna they're going to push same-sex marriage on people who can marry you. That's not something we want. That's not something we want. And yeah, uh, this is not reading the official documents. You can go read the official documents. Obviously, this is for conservative lens, okay? But this is not what we want. Voting uh rights restoration. This amendment does not offer any consequences for person for persons convicted of felony that have never served time in prison or served limited time in prison and are to be released on parole. Um, if I voted for yes, this would be the only one I'd probably vote yes on. And I'm still not going to. You can go and look and decide on that one. I do think after you pay your time that you should be able to vote, but not before you've paid your time. Um, this is the big one. Read uh read districting or gerrymending. This proposed amendment will allow the General Assembly, not by bipartisan committee, to redraw congressional lines at any time, wherever they choose, on a then that uh on a 10-year cycle. So um the Democrats are trying their best to the Democrats are trying very hard to erase a constitutional amendment that was passed in 2020, just six years ago, uh, less than six years ago, because it's passed in November. I voted for it, and the majority of uh Virginians voted for it, uh, left and right, Republican-Democrat. It was passed by 60% of the voters, and they want to get rid of it. Why? So they can gerrymander Virginia. They want to make a 10-to-1 map in Virginia, and you look at that, that is butchered, that is super gerrymandered. The only Republican seat we would have in Virginia is in the Southwest, and they would stretch our votes out. That's not what we want. 65% of Virginians that voted in the 2020 election, the presidential election, Republicans and Democrats came together for the majority and said, We want nonpartisan commission. Um, where we have so many Republicans, so many Democrats, and if they can't get along, it goes to the Supreme Court. That's what we voted for. And the Democrats said, well, now that we have the power, now that we have full power in uh Richmond now, we no longer want that because we want to draw the lines. But when we didn't have the power in Richmond, we wanted this bill to go through, so we couldn't draw the lines. Hypocrisy at its finest. It's all it is. That they want a power grab, they want to affect our Congress. Oh, Texas did it first. Don't give me that crap. Both parties from all different types of states have been gerrymandering gerrymandering from the beginning of the republic. But in Virginia in 2020, we said, no more gerrymandering. We want fair maps. And I say we still want fair maps. So as we end 2026, as we begin 2026, I hope everyone has a good new year. Go to church, read your Bible, evangelize the people. We're gonna get back into the life of David. We're gonna start saying the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer before the uh um before the show again. But this was your 2026 rant. Also, keep the people keep the Iranian people in your prayers as they're in protest over the government. The government has shut down their internet, has shut down their cell phones and even their land lines. Um it's been deadly, and um the Iranian people it seems want freedom. There are people burning their burkas. Um we keep keep them in your prayers. Um keep Venezuela in your prayers, keep them in your prayers, and pray that we can reach them with the gospel. And all people, I always pray that we can reach people with the gospel, um, all unreached people. I want to leave you with this verse of the day and tell you a small story. Uh, the verse of today is Psalms 116-15. You know, V precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants, meaning those who have died that are saved, God counts them precious. God loves them, and he has not forgotten them. Death cannot separate us from the love of God. Um, I want to read you a short article from the voice of the martyrs as we leave. And a story that's really touched me. Um and uh on this martyr anniversary they posted on this day, and it was a few days ago. It says three days from uh from yesterday, um, this day in 1956, missionary Jim Elliott, Pete Fleming, Ed McCall, Nate Saint, and Roger. I can't even say his last name, you you Dran were violently killed by the Wampedan tribe in Ecuador. The five had spent months contacting the Wampadex through over flights and gifts exchanged via and indigenous um buckle drop. Through the tribe, though the tribe had a history of violent encounters with outsiders, the man had decided they'd established a degree of mutual trust that would support direct contact within two years of their deaths. Elizabeth Elliot and Nate Saint's sister made a friendly and lasting contact with the Wampas and translated, and the translation of the Bible into the Wampa language began one by one. The men who murdered the missionaries became believers, and the one who sent the five to reach them. There's a really beautiful story. Um you know, they had this small uh helicopter, small airplane, not a helicopter airplane, and they attached a rope to it and gave gifts. And that kind of opened them up, but there was a miscommunication. A lot of these uncontacted tribes, if they feel threatened, they attack. Sadly, these five men died, Jim Elliott and his crew. But God blessed it. God um used their deaths to spread the gospel. And His um wife ended up living with them and they became safe. If you want to watch a movie about this, there's a movie that I believe the son of Jim Elliott helped had his hand in called The End of the Spear. You can watch it free on YouTube, about how they reached these people and evangelized to them. Beautiful story. And uh remember, um, I think Tullian Tutorial said uh the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. So God bless you all, and I hope you have a great day. I'm sorry for the background noise. There's just a lot going on today, but hopefully there won't be as much next time. God bless you, and we'll be back.