Leo Hohmann – Leo’s Newsletter Dec 10, 2025
U.S. military forces have intercepted and seized a Venezuelan oil tanker off of its coast, as Donald Trump escalates the already tense standoff between the two nations, Bloomberg News reports.
While the US has ramped up pressure on Maduro, accusing him of running a narcotrafficking operation, Venezuela has been quick to call out what it sees as Washington’s blatant disregard for its sovereignty and an eagerness to seize its abundant oil resources.
As the Pentagon continues its strikes against suspected drug vessels, Maduro isn’t backing down. He’s calling for unity and deploying troops to the borders and receiving arms shipments from China and Russia.
President Donald Trump has escalated pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in recent weeks. Trump said Maduro’s “days are numbered” in an interview with Politico published Tuesday. The president would not rule out a ground invasion of the South American nation.
The White House has undertaken a large military buildup in the Caribbean and launched controversial strikes against boats that it claims were trafficking drugs to the U.S.
Venezuela is a member of OPEC. Most of the South American nation’s oil exports go to China.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. will keep the oil that was on board the seized tanker. Piracy anyone?
This is a tense situation that only promises to further intensify in these last few weeks of 2025. Look for oil prices to rise leading up to the Christmas holiday, just as they seemed to be stabilizing a bit. I’ll keep you updated as major escalations take place.
The big question is, how will Russia and particularly China react to Trump’s war against Venezuela?
I suspect Russia’s Putin is grinning from ear to ear, as this will give him a chance to get even with the U.S. He will now be able to give the U.S. a taste of its own medicine by arming and supplying an enemy in America’s own sphere of influence, basically using Venezuela to fight a proxy war. Just as the U.S. has used Ukraine to kill Russians and attack Russia, now Russia and China see the opportunity to use Venezuela to deal a black eye to America.
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Hold on to your saddles folks, because it looks like 2026 is shaping up to be a rough ride. For more information, check out my forecast for 2026, and please consider supporting this independent Substack account for ongoing updates into the new year. You can do so by upgrading to a paid account, or by sending an end-of-year donation of any size through my GiveSendGo page. You can also support me through snail mail at P.O. Box 291, Newnan, GA 30264. Thanks and may you all have a Merry Christmas!
So now we are all Somali pirates??
The Jewnited States is a frothingly rabid mentally retarded and morally bankrupt lunatic.
Councillors who allowed in masses of migrants ‘pelted with eggs’ by balaclava-wearing public during asylum debate
Kevin McKenna, the MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey said ‘the building was so badly vandalised afterwards with eggs , with toilets flooded, lifts covered it was every where
councillors were covered
the public were laughing and said serve the traitors right
The Salvation Army has had to change its stance on LGBTQ+ people after discrimination allegations
Story by Chantelle Billson
The Salvation Army’s stance on LGBTQ perversion has changed
despite discrimination allegations against normal people
The festive season is in full swing, and while many are celebrating, others are looking for ways to support themselves, leading to increased search around charities such as The Salvation Army In the last decade, The Salvation Army’s relationship with LGBTQ+ rights has been well publicised, with the company being sluggish to adjust to the new laws
Most recently, in 2019, hard line jewish singer Ellie Goulding threatened to pull out of her performance at the NFL’s Thanksgiving Day halftime show – intended to coincide with its annual holiday Red Kettle Campaign – over the company’ anti perversion track record
National commander of the Salvation Army, David Hudson, in an op-ed for USA Today, previously called out allegations of discrimination of perversions as false.
Christianity in the bible condemns homosexuality along with every other religion
Salvation army spokesmen say, the change will be hard for them and already many members have resigned
The tanker seized by the USA yesterday
photos on the net showed a lot of children on board
why was this ?
a colleague in mine in New York
bent to tie his lace and he could hear children under ground, he followed the muffled sounds for some distance before it went silent, he said it was some distance ro the synagogue, but its connection is possible
Swiss man jailed after saying women and men have different skeletons
Story by James Rothwell • 5d •A Swiss musician has been imprisoned for a post on social media in which he said that skeletons can only be male or female.
Nothing else.
Emanuel Brünisholz was convicted of hate speech and fined by a court in the Swiss canton of Bern over the Facebook post, which also suggested that transvestite people were mentally ill
Up until recently the Maudsley psychiatric hospital treated people successfully with these disorders
When he refused to pay the fine, Brünisholz was instead sentenced to ten days in prison and began his sentence on Tuesday.
He said in a Facebook post: “If you excavate LGBTQI [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex] people after 200 years, you will only find men and women among the skeletons; everything else is a mental illness that was fostered by the curriculum!”
The post was sent on to Swiss police, who summoned Brünisholz for questioning on suspicion of incitement of hatred, according to the Swiss newspaper Inside Paradeplatz.
Its good to know that migrant rapists are not prosecuted black gangs can mug and steal undisturbed in london migrant gangs can steal phones and watches, but real criminals who say there is only men and women will be sent to prison
Brian Eno urges support to get Together for Palestine song to Christmas No 1
Story by Lanre Bakare Arts and culture correspondent
The Together for Palestine fund is trying to get a Palestinian lullaby to Christmas No 1 in the UK charts in an effort to help provide aid to the people of Gaza, but also showcase their culture and creativity.
The musician Brian Eno, who performs on the track, said Lullaby, which will be released on Friday, is a chance to support Palestinians over Christmas and potentially stage an unlikely coup by getting to No 1.“It would be fantastic if that happened, yes,” he said. “I’m not gonna be completely disappointed if it doesn’t, Christmas singles are a thing unto themselves.”
The Palestinian singer Nai Barghouti said the song – which she performs on and is an adaptation of a Palestinian lullaby called Yamma Mwel El Hawa – carries a defiant message about demanding dignity.“It would be fantastic if that happened,
“It has a very special place for a lot of people,” Barghouti said. “It’s basically saying that I would rather die in dignity than live a life without freedom. That’s the main theme of the song, we want to live a dignified life that we deserve as Palestinians, where we can share the beauty of our identity.”
The song was recorded after the Together for Palestine concert, held at Wembley Arena in September. It was originally supposed to be played and recorded live at the concert, but because the show – which featured 69 artists, speakers and activists and lasted for four hours – was overrunning, the performance had to be cut.
Artists who appear on Lullaby include Eno, Celeste, Dan Smith from Bastille, Lana Lubany, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, the London Community Gospel Choir, Mabel, Nadine Shah and Neneh Cherry – all of whom performed at the concert, which raised £2m to feed those hit by the genocide
Benedict Cumberbatch and Damon Albarn were among the performers and speakers at the concert, which was partly inspired by a 1988 Wembley Stadium event that celebrated the 70th birthday of Nelson Mandela.
Lullaby is produced by the composer Kieran Brunt, Benji B and Henri Davies and features a mix of the original Arabic with English lyrics written by Peter Gabriel.
Together for Palestine wants to raise as much as possible for a fund, which will be distributed to Palestinian causes via the Choose Love charity.
“We don’t have a target,” he said. “We’ll go for whatever we can get. But obviously the more the merrier. It all goes out to Gaza.
“There’s so much that has been wasted and destroyed there. Apart from lives lost, 92% of property is either destroyed or seriously damaged.
“In that context, a few million quid doesn’t make that much difference. But I think what does make a difference is first of all making this cause better known and showing there’s another side to the story. Palestinian people have said to me that it means so much to them that somebody cares about them.”
Lullaby is released on Friday and a recording of the Together for Palestine concert will be available to stream on YouTube from 19 December.