FT Exposes The Literal Definition Of Ponzi-Scheming In Private Equity

Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/03/2026 – 18:05

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/ft-exposes-literal-definition-ponzi-scheming-private-equity 

Chinese EV Exports Are Exploding, And The West Has No Way To Stop Them

Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/03/2026 – 17:30

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/chinese-ev-exports-are-exploding-and-west-has-no-way-stop-them 

Visualizing The Distribution Of Household Income In America

Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/03/2026 – 16:55

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/visualizing-distribution-household-income-america 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Venezuelans on Saturday were scrambling to understand who is in charge of their country after a U.S. military operation that captured President Nicolás Maduro.

President Donald Trump delivered a shocking pick: The United States, perhaps in coordination with one of Maduro’s most trusted aides.

Delcy Rodríguez has served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, overseeing much of Venezuela’s oil-dependent economy as well as its feared intelligence service. But she is someone the Trump administration apparently is willing to work with, at least for now.

“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump told reporters of Rodríguez, who faced U.S. sanctions during Trump’s first administration for her role in undermining Venezuelan democracy.

In a major snub, Trump said opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was awarded last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, didn’t have the support to run the country.

Trump said Rodríguez had a long conversation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in which Trump claimed she said, “‘We’ll do whatever you need.’”

“I think she was quite gracious,” Trump added. “We can’t take a chance that somebody else takes over Venezuela that doesn’t have the good of the Venezuelan people in mind.”

Rodríguez tried to project strength and unity among the ruling party’s many factions, downplaying any hint of betrayal. In remarks on state TV, she demanded the immediate release of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and denounced the U.S. operation as a flagrant violation of the United Nations charter.

“There is only one president in this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro,” Rodríguez said, surrounded by top civilian officials and military commanders.

There was no immediate sign that the U.S. was running Venezuela.

“What will happen tomorrow? What will happen in the next hour? Nobody knows,” Caracas resident Juan Pablo Petrone said.

No sign of a swearing-in

Trump indicated that Rodríguez had been sworn in already as president of Venezuela, per the transfer of power outlined in the constitution. However, state television has not broadcast any swearing-in ceremony.

In her televised address, Rodríguez did not declare herself acting president or mention a political transition. A ticker at the bottom of the screen identified her as the vice president. She gave no sign that she would be cooperating with the U.S.

“What is being done to Venezuela is an atrocity that violates international law,” she said. “History and justice will make the extremists who promoted this armed aggression pay.”

The Venezuelan constitution also says a new election must be called within a month in the event of the president’s absence.

But experts have been debating whether the succession scenario would apply here, given the government’s lack of popular legitimacy and the extraordinary U.S. military intervention.

Venezuelan military officials were quick to project defiance in video messages.

“They have attacked us but will not break us,” said Defense Minister Gen. Vladimir Padrino López, dressed in fatigues.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello appeared on state TV in a helmet and flak jacket, urging Venezuelans to “trust in the political leadership and military” and “get out on the streets” to defend the country’s sovereignty.

“These rats attacked and they will regret what they did,” he said of the U.S.

Strong ties with Wall Street

A lawyer educated in Britain and France, Rodríguez has a long history of representing the revolution started by the late Hugo Chávez on the world stage.

She and her brother, Jorge Rodríguez, head of the Maduro-controlled National Assembly, have strong leftist credentials born from tragedy. Their father was a socialist leader who died in police custody in the 1970s, a crime that shook many activists of the era, including a young Maduro.

Unlike many in Maduro’s inner circle, the Rodríguez siblings have avoided criminal indictment in the U.S. Delcy Rodríguez has developed strong ties with Republicans in the oil industry and on Wall Street who balked at the notion of U.S.-led regime change.

Among her past interlocutors was Blackwater founder Erik Prince and, more recently, Richard Grenell, a Trump special envoy who tried to negotiate a deal with Maduro for greater U.S. influence in Venezuela.

Fluent in English, Rodríguez is sometimes portrayed as a well-educated moderate in contrast to the military hardliners who took up arms with Chávez against Venezuela’s democratically elected president in the 1990s.

Many of them, especially Cabello, are wanted in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges and stand accused of serious human rights abuses. But they continue to hold sway over the armed forces, the traditional arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela.

That presents major challenges to Rodríguez asserting authority. But experts say that Venezuela’s power brokers have long had a habit of closing ranks behind their leaders.

“These leaders have all seen the value of staying united. Cabello has always taken a second seat or third seat, knowing that his fate is tied up with Maduro’s, and now he very well might do that again,” said David Smilde, a sociology professor at Tulane University who has conducted research into Venezuela’s political dynamics over the past three decades.

“A lot depends on what happened last night, which officials were taken out, what the state of the military looks like now,” Smilde said. “If it doesn’t have much firepower anymore, they’re more vulnerable and diminished and it will be easier for her to gain control.”

An apparent snub of the opposition

Shortly before Trump’s press conference, Machado, the opposition leader, called on her ally Edmundo González — a retired diplomat widely considered to have won the country’s disputed 2024 presidential election — to “immediately assume his constitutional mandate and be recognized as commander-in-chief.”

In an triumphant statement, Machado promised that her movement would “restore order, free political prisoners, build an exceptional country and bring our children back home.”

She added: “Today we are prepared to assert our mandate and take power.”

Asked about Machado, Trump was blunt: “I think it would be very tough for (Machado) to be the leader,” he said.

“She doesn’t have the support or respect within the country.”

Venezuelans expressed shock, with many speculating on social media that Trump had mixed up the two women’s names. Machado has not responded to Trump’s remarks.

Goodman reported from Miami.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/03/venezuelans-trump-maduros-deputy/ 

The Unreported Story Of Grid Scale Battery Fires

Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/03/2026 – 16:20

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/unreported-story-grid-scale-battery-fires 

Historical amnesia can threaten freedom, Rev. Nicole P. Guns and others warned Thursday during an Emancipation Proclamation remembrance ceremony at Gary’s First Baptist Church.

The Interfaith Clergy Council of Gary & Vicinity held the service on Jan. 1, marking the anniversary of the effective date of President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. It took effect Jan. 1, 1863, freeing slaves in rebel states.

That proclamation was the start of bringing freedom, not the final product, Rev. Joy Heine, of Bethel Lutheran Church, said. “It took the war to end. It took the 13th Amendment, which didn’t even happen until a couple of years after the war.”

Heine and Guns warned that remembering history is vital to preserving freedom. “Any kind of history is being whitewashed like nobody’s business,” Heine said, with attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion and history being scrubbed by the Trump administration to downplay or erase contributions by minorities.

“It’s our time and year to tell the story,” Heine said.

Guns, senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Gary, preached a sermon based on scripture that told of the Israelites repeatedly forgetting their history and having God’s protection removed from them.

Members of the First Baptist Church music ministry sing during the 65th Emancipation Proclamation Service of Freedom at the First Baptist Church of Gary on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)

“There’s something sacred about remembering the journey,” she said. “When we forget where we come from, there are consequences.”

“History is not always fairy tales and lullabies,” Guns warned. Prior to the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery was the law in the rebellious states. Even with Lincoln’s executive order proclaiming freedom for the slaves, the practice continued until the war was completed.

But equality wasn’t automatic.

“Deliverance that does not lead to justice is not complete,” Guns said.

The cycle of oppression has continued. Slavery, Jim Crow, separate but equal, war on drugs, ICE and mid-decade redistricting are all signs of that oppression of minorities, she said. “It repeated itself. It just had another name.”

“Leadership changed, but the culture did not,” Guns said. “The people experienced freedom, but they never institutionalized justice.”

“Freedom without protection from abuse is backlash,” she said.

Indiana NAACP State Conference President Emeritus Barbara Bolling-Williams recites the Emancipation Proclamation during the 65th Emancipation Proclamation Service of Freedom at the First Baptist Church of Gary on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)

“We can’t allow people to whitewash our history,” Guns said.

“It is biblical to tell our story because it’s about what God did for us,” she said. “Give God the praise.”

Guns invoked the story of the Israelites not remembering their legacy.

“God told them to remember and to tell their story, so we’ve got to do the same,” she said. “This Emancipation Day is a holy day. It is a sacred day.”

Three things happen when a people forget their story, Guns said. “When we forget God, we are at risk of misdirected worship.”

“This generation had heard the story, but they had not inherited the testimony,” she said. “Forgetting God did not lead to freedom; it led to new forms of bondage.”

The Israelites drifted from God to other gods, “the gods who liked to put his name on buildings, who tore down historical buildings, these gods,” Guns said, implicating President Donald Trump without naming him.

“For some, your idol may be your success,” your wallet, your privilege, etc., Guns said. But that’s drifting away from God.

Rabbi Len Zukrow, of Temple Beth-El of Munster, recites Old Testament scripture during the 65th Emancipation Proclamation Service of Freedom at the First Baptist Church of Gary on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)

“This danger is not always about rebellion; it’s about a drift away,” she said. “They abandoned the source of their freedom.”

“We live in the days of misinformation and the rewriting of history,” Guns warned. “Whatever we serve begins to shape us, begins to redirect us.”

“We push Jesus as a mascot to push our political agenda,” corrupting what Jesus really stands for, she said.

“We are also at risk for moral vulnerability,” Guns said.

“The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel,” she said. “This is not God abandoning them, it’s God removing God’s protection.”

Interfaith Clergy Council Gary president Dr. Shelley Fisher speaks during the 65th Emancipation Proclamation Service of Freedom at the First Baptist Church of Gary on Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (Kyle Telechan/for the Post-Tribune)

What once could not touch them now had access to them. “This is the danger of forgetting God.”

“Freedom without grounding leaves us exposed,” Guns warned. “You can be free in name but unprotected by systems. Freedom can be eroded from the outside and undermined from within.”

“Our missteps are repeated” when historical amnesia occurs, she said. “When freedom is not transformed, our oppression returns.”

“We’re in difficult times,” ICC President Rev. Shelley Fisher said. She denounced Christian nationalism, “where people say we are the pure race and this is our country and people are subservient to us.”

“We are the ones who are educating our children, our teenagers, even the adults of our history, the facts,” she said. “We need to resist with facts.”

Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/03/forgetting-history-can-lead-to-oppression-clergy-members-warn/ 

Democrats Melt Down Over Capture And Arrest Of Dictator Maduro

Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/03/2026 – 15:45

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/democrats-melt-down-over-capture-and-arrest-dictator-maduro 

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump declared Saturday’s military operation that led to the ouster of Nicolás Maduro a major success as he offered a vague plan for his administration “to run” Venezuela until a transition of power can take place.

While there are no visible signs of a U.S. presence on the ground in Caracas, Trump was demonstrating chutzpah that’s become the trademark of his foreign policy approach. It’s one marked by a grand confidence that his will on the international stage is an immovable force.

“This was one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history,” Trump declared at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

The president strode into office with a promise to turn the page on America’s decades of foreign entanglements. But on Saturday, he committed the U.S. to help Venezuela usher in a period of “peace” and “justice” after decades of rule by strongmen.

The president’s pledge to a Venezuela project comes as he finds himself struggling to bring about a permanent peace between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and find an endgame to Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine.

But the path ahead is treacherous. The White House will need to grapple with any power vacuum caused by Maduro’s ouster and inevitable complications of trying to maintain stability in a country that’s already endured years of hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages and brain drain despite its vast oil wealth.

It also remains to be seen what lessons U.S. adversaries may take from Trump’s decision to demonstrate American might in its sphere of influence in the aftermath of Trump’s play in Caracas. China’s Xi Jinping has vowed to annex the self-ruled island of Taiwan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin has designs on neighbor Ukraine and diminishing NATO’s eastern flank.

Yet Trump was unflinching in his confidence that the bad actors of the old government will be pushed aside as he helps make Venezuela “great again.” He also sought to reassure American taxpayers that they won’t be on the hook for his plan to help out Caracas.

“The money coming out of the ground is very substantial,” Trump said. “We’re going to get reimbursed for everything that we spend.”

Trump hasn’t shied away from flexing U.S. military might even as he has vowed to keep America out of war. He’s now twice used U.S. forces to carry out risky operations against American adversaries. In June, he directed U.S. strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites.

Saturday’s action stirred fresh anxiety in capitals around the world that have sought to adjust to a new normal in Trump 2.0, where the idea of the U.S. trying to find global consensus on issues of war and peace is now passe.

What’s next for Venezuela?

European allies had expressed concern as Trump built up a massive presence of troops in the Caribbean in recent months and carried out dozens of lethal strikes on suspected drug smugglers — many that the administration claimed were effectively an arm of the Maduro government.

Maduro was hardly viewed as a choir boy by the international community. His 2018 and 2024 elections were seen as riddled with irregularities and viewed as illegitimate.

But many U.S. allies greeted news of Maduro’s capture with a measure of trepidation.

European Commission President António Costa said he had “great concern” about the situation in Venezuela following the U.S. operation.

France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said “the military operation that led to the capture of Maduro infringes the principle of the non-use of force that underpins international law.”

The criticism from some Democrats over Trump’s military action to oust Maduro was immediate.

“This war is illegal, it’s embarrassing that we went from the world cop to the world bully in less than one year.” Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona wrote on X. “There is no reason for us to be at war with Venezuela.”

Russia’s foreign ministry condemned what it called a U.S. “act of armed aggression” against Venezuela in a statement posted on its Telegram channel Saturday. The ouster of Maduro, who was backed by the Russians, comes as Trump is urging Putin to end his war on Ukraine.

“Venezuela must be guaranteed the right to determine its own destiny without any destructive, let alone military, outside intervention,” the statement said.

Similarly, China’s foreign ministry in a statement condemned the U.S. operation, saying it violates international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty.

Capture follows months of pressure

The operation was the culmination of a push inside the administration led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other like-minded foes of Maduro who have been urging Trump to take action against the Venezuelan leader for years.

In south Florida — the epicenter of the Venezuelan diaspora opposition to Maduro that has influenced Rubio’s thinking — Saturday’s operation was cheered as an era-changing moment for democracy.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez, a Florida Republican, said he had spoken to Rubio and thanked Trump for having “changed the course of history in our hemisphere. Our country & the world are safer for it,” he wrote on X, comparing Maduro’s ouster to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Trump: Venezuela has no chance without his intervention

Maduro had sought a pathway to exit from power while saving face.

Venezuelan government officials had floated a plan in which Maduro would eventually leave office, The Associated Press reported in October.

The proposal called for Maduro to step down in three years and hand over to his vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, who would complete Maduro’s six-year term that ends in January 2031. Rodriguez would not run for reelection under the plan.

But the White House had rejected the proposal because the administration questioned the legitimacy of Maduro’s rule and accused him of overseeing a narco-terrorist state.

Maduro earlier this week said Venezuela was open to negotiating an agreement with the United States to combat drug trafficking and work with Washington on promoting U.S. further investment in the Venezuelan oil industry. Trump said Maduro was recently offered chances to surrender but declined.

Rubio held a long phone conversation on Saturday with Rodriguez, Trump said. In an address to the nation, she demanded the U.S. free Maduro but left open the possibility of dialogue with Trump.

“If we just left, it has zero chance of ever coming back. We’ll run it properly. We’ll run it professionally,” Trump said. “We’ll have the greatest oil companies in the world going in, invest billions and billions of dollars. … And the biggest beneficiary are going to be the people of Venezuela.”

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said Maduro “F’d around and found out.” He added adversaries of the U.S. should “remain on notice” that “America can project our will anywhere, anytime.”

“Welcome to 2026,” Hegseth said. “Under President Trump, America is back.”

Venezuela’s opposition says the rightful president is the exiled politician Edmundo González, an ally of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

Trump said he wasn’t ready to commit to a certain leader but pledged his administration has to remain “very involved” in Venezuela.

“We can’t take a chance of letting somebody else run it — just take over where (Maduro) left,” Trump said.

AP writers Darlene Superville in Palm Springs, Fla., Matthew Lee in Washington, Kanis Leung in Hong Kong, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, and Elise Morton in London contributed reporting.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/03/maduro-venezuela-trump-foreign-policy-project/ 

North America Leads Largest LNG Export Surge Since 2022

Tyler Durden
Sat, 01/03/2026 – 15:10

https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/north-america-leads-largest-lng-export-surge-2022 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry apologized Saturday, one day after charging at an official following his team’s controversial loss to Cal. He also received a public reprimand from the Atlantic Coast Conference for his actions.

Shrewsberry was angry over how what became a four-point play was officiated in the final seconds of the Fighting Irish’s 72-71 loss. The Irish, up by three, fouled Cal’s Dai Dai Ames — trying to keep him from attempting a tying 3-pointer.

Ames got the shot off anyway, then made the free throw that put the Bears ahead to stay. As time expired, Shrewsberry briefly charged off the court in the direction of referee Adam Flore, who had already left the floor.

“I want to apologize for what took place immediately after the Cal game last night,” Shrewsberry said in a statement released by Notre Dame. “My actions were inappropriate and not symbolic of the leader I strive to be and what Notre Dame expects of its coaches and educators. I will learn from this lack of judgment and be better in the future.”

Shrewsberry also apologized to his team, Notre Dame and its leadership, to the ACC and to Cal coach Mark Madsen and the Bears, “as my actions were unacceptable,” he said.

The ACC, in issuing the reprimand, said it considers the matter now closed. Shrewsberry is expected to meet with reporters in a regularly scheduled ACC teleconference Monday, and Notre Dame does not play again until a home game Jan. 10 against Clemson.

Shrewsberry “aggressively confronted” the referee, the conference said, adding that the “unsportsmanlike behavior that was displayed is unacceptable and tarnishes the on-court play between these institutions.”

It was a wild sequence. Officials originally called Ames’ shot good, then said the foul was before the shot, then changed their minds once again and deemed the 3-pointer good for a second time. Notre Dame’s Logan Imes was called for the foul, and replays showed he tried to foul Ames at least twice previously on the play — with neither drawing a whistle. Fouling, when leading by three points late in games, is a common strategy for some teams in an effort to prevent 3-point tries.

After Notre Dame missed a shot as time expired, Shrewsberry charged toward the corner of the floor — in Flore’s direction — and needed to be held back by several assistant coaches and players. Shrewsberry composed himself after a few moments and participated in the postgame handshakes with Cal players and coaches.

“Tremendous respect for Coach Shrewsberry and the entire Notre Dame program. It’s emotional for all of us,” Madsen said. “In the handshake line, it was nothing but class, class act. … We’ve had some battles for them. A lot of respect for Notre Dame.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/03/micah-shrewsberry-notre-dame-referee-reprimand/