The jet, a Dassault Falcon 900-EX valued at $13 million, was described by U.S. officials as Maduro’s personal version of “Air Force One,” used for his international state visits. The seizure was executed due to the plane’s acquisition through a shell company, which violated U.S. sanctions and export controls, specifically Executive Order 13884 issued by former President Donald Trump in 2019.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland highlighted the seizure, stating, “The Department will continue to pursue those who violate our sanctions and export controls to prevent them from using American resources to undermine the national security of the United States.” This statement underscores the U.S.’s commitment to enforcing its sanctions against the Maduro regime.

Assistant Secretary Matthew Axelrod from the Department of Commerce added, “It doesn’t matter how fancy the private jet or how powerful the officials – we will work relentlessly with our partners here and across the globe to identify and return any aircraft illegally smuggled outside of the United States.” His remarks emphasize the global reach of U.S. law enforcement in such matters.

The incident has likely further strained the already tense relations between the U.S. and Venezuela. The seizure follows a pattern of actions aimed at isolating the Maduro government, which the U.S. has accused of corruption, human rights abuses, and undermining democratic processes.

Details from the investigation reveal that the plane was purchased through a Caribbean-based shell company in late 2022, then illegally exported from the U.S. to Venezuela via the Caribbean in April 2023. Since then, the aircraft, identified by its tail number T7-ESPRT, has primarily been used for Maduro’s travel, including state visits, operating almost exclusively from a Venezuelan military base.

This event not only represents a blow to Maduro’s image and mobility but also serves as a warning to other nations and entities about the consequences of violating U.S. sanctions. The ongoing investigation involves multiple U.S. agencies, showcasing a coordinated effort to enforce international law and protect national interests.

The seizure could have broader implications for U.S.-Venezuela relations, potentially influencing future diplomatic and economic strategies between the two nations. As the situation develops, the world watches to see how this bold move by the U.S. will reshape its stance in Latin American politics.

Article generated from corporate media reports.

Unfortunately for Harris, she feels compelled to tell the American people what she actually plans to do once she becomes president.

And that is a really bad thing for her campaign, because just about everyone hates her ideas.

For example, why would she tell the American people that she wants to raise taxes? I don’t know anyone that actually wants to pay more taxes.

She should have just said nothing about taxes and then raised them after the election. By telling people in advance what she plans to do, she is just losing votes.

Americans for Tax Reform examined the plan that she has endorsed, and they concluded that it would raise taxes by 5 trillion dollars over the next 10 years.

The biggest chunk of that new money would come from raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent…

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is proposing to increase the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% if she wins a November election against Republican rival Donald Trump, her campaign said on Monday.

Harris campaign spokesperson James Singer said the move would be part of “a fiscally responsible way to put money back in the pockets of working people and ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share.”

We are being told that raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent would bring in about a trillion dollars in revenue over the course of the next ten years…

When Trump was president, he slashed the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35% and implemented other tax breaks that are set to expire next year. Trump has vowed to make the cuts permanent.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan advocacy group, said on Monday that Harris’ proposal to raise the corporate income tax rate to 28% would reduce the U.S. deficit by $1 trillion over a decade.

But we certainly won’t raise that kind of revenue if corporations start moving out of the country in very large numbers. If what Kamala Harris is proposing becomes law, we will actually have a higher corporate tax rate than communist China…

Kamala Harris wants to hike the current 21% federal corporate income tax rate to 28%, higher than communist China’s 25% and the EU average of 21%, her campaign said Monday.

The Kamala Harris federal 28% rate is higher than the Asia average corporate tax rate of 19.8%, the EU average of 21%, the world average of 23.5%, and the OECD average of 23.7%.

If you don’t want to be called a communist, don’t try to tax businesses even harder than the communists.

Another element of the plan that Kamala Harris wants to implement that is causing a lot of controversy is a proposal to tax the unrealized capital gains of the ultra-wealthy.  According to the Los Angeles Times, taxing those unrealized capital gains is part of a scheme for “a 25% minimum tax on the annual income of taxpayers with wealth of more than $100 million”…

All right, guys, take a deep breath. Harris hasn’t proposed taxing your unrealized capital gains, or mine. What she has said, as the Harris campaign told me, is that she “supports the revenue raisers in the FY25 Biden-Harris [administration] budget. Nothing beyond that.”

So what’s in that Biden-Harris administration budget for fiscal year 2025?

The budget plan does indeed call for taxation of unrealized capital gains held by the country’s uber-rich. That’s part of its proposal for a 25% minimum tax on the annual income of taxpayers with wealth of more than $100 million — a wealth tax. If you’re a member of that cohort, lucky you. But at that level of affluence you don’t have grounds to complain about paying a minimum 25% of your annual income.

Maybe you agree with Harris that it is time to stick it to the ultra-wealthy. Okay, but what is going to happen when lots of them decide to move out of the United States because they don’t want their unrealized gains taxed?

As Chicago venture investor Robert Nelson has pointed out, this proposal would have very serious consequences for our economy…

Taxing unrealized gains is truly the most insane, economy destroying, innovation killing, market crashing, retirement fund decimating, unconstitutional idea, which was probably planted by Russia or China to destroy the economy. Dems need to run away from this wildly stupid idea.

Many of the ultra-wealthy were originally inclined to support Harris.

Why is she seemingly intent on driving them away?

So far, I have just discussed two of the elements of the plan that Harris has endorsed.  There are quite a few others that are also very troubling…

• Having small business owners pay taxes on their individual tax returns, up to 39.6 percent from the current 37 percent
• Imposing a second “death tax” — a mandatory capital gains tax at death — in addition to the current death tax
• Imposing a 21 percent global minimum corporate tax rate, which goes beyond the Organization for Economic Development’s (OECD) current 15 percent global minimum tax rate
• Quadrupling the tax on stock buybacks, which would impact Americans’ 401(k)s and other retirement accounts
• A 30 percent federal excise tax on electricity used in cryptocurrency mining
• A $37 billion tax on American energy
• A 32 percent increase in Medicare taxes

This is insane.

The federal government does not have a revenue problem.

Right now, the federal government is bringing in about 5 trillion dollars a year. What the federal government has is a spending problem.

We are trying to live way beyond our means, but the American people just keep sending the same big spenders back to Washington.

We are literally in the process of committing national suicide, and I really wish that I could get more people to understand that.

The national debt has surged past the 35 trillion dollar mark, and it continues to rise at a pace of more than 200 million dollars an hour.

Our federal government is the largest government in the entire history of our planet, and if #ComradeKamala gets into the White House it will inevitably get even larger.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

Exit polls (Edison Research, WSJ):
Opposition leader González: 65%
Socialist dictator Maduro: 31%

Results from the Election Council:
Socialist dictator Maduro: 51.2%
Opposition leader González: 44.2%

Exit polls (Edison Research, WSJ):
Opposition leader González: 65%
Socialist dictator Maduro: 31%

Results from the Election Council:
Socialist dictator Maduro: 51.2%
Opposition leader González: 44.2%

No leader or media organization should legitimize this fake election in any…

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 29, 2024

Maduro exit polls showed he lost by 34-points but the “official” Election Council results show he “won” by 7-points. That didn’t happen.

Reactions on social media are coming in.

The Venezuelan elections were a complete fraud – Maduro did not win that election at all, but this is what Communists do!

Kamala Harris won’t condemn it, though, because she can’t condemn it: it’s the exact same way she plans to ascend to the presidency in November and exactly… pic.twitter.com/lMiMv38t9k

— Joey Mannarino (@JoeyMannarinoUS) July 29, 2024

BREAKING REPORT: Maduro regime puts out FAKE POLLING NUMBERS in an attempt to STEAL the Venezuelan election with numbers that equal 109%

COMING TO AMERICA? pic.twitter.com/60u1Y8vDCA

— Chuck Callesto (@ChuckCallesto) July 29, 2024

BREAKING.

Venezuela's regime has announced that socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro is the "WINNER" of the election despite rampant and verifiable reports of FRAUD.

• Maduro: 51.2%
• González: 44.2%

Venezuela's election was clearly *STOLEN.* pic.twitter.com/Gwg7tXlWnG

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) July 29, 2024

BREAKING: Venezuelan National Electoral Council says President Nicolas Maduro has won the election despite exit polls suggesting the opposite.

The council claimed Maduro won with 51.20% of the vote.

Argentina president Javier Milei announced that Argentina would not be… pic.twitter.com/ItctgVzvz9

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 29, 2024

According to The Guardian:

After a six-hour delay in releasing the results of Sunday’s poll prompted international concern, Venezuela’s electoral council claimed Maduro had won with 51.21% of votes compared with 44.2% for his rival, the former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia.

The council said that with about 80% of votes counted, Maduro had secured more than 5m compared with González’s 4.4m.

Independent observers had described the election as the most arbitrary in recent years, even by the standards of an authoritarian regime that started with Maduro’s mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

Critics blame Maduro for leading Venezuela into a crippling economic and social crisis, as well as turning the country into an increasingly repressive state where political opponents are routinely jailed and tortured.

As they say, you can vote yourself into socialism but you can’t vote yourself out of it.

Venezuelans going to the polls Sunday will be asked to answer an unusually provocative question:

Should their government be given a blank check to invade neighboring Guyana, and wrest away three-quarters of its oil-rich territory?

Of course they never would have held this vote if they were not pretty sure of the outcome.

Apparently there is a very old “territorial dispute” that would supposedly justify grabbing 74 percent of Guyana’s current territory…

The government of Nicolás Maduro is putting the query before voters, part of a century-old territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana that is raising tensions in the region and threatening to escalate into a shooting war.

The question will be on the ballot in a five-part referendum that, among other things, would grant Maduro special powers to invade Guyana and create a new Venezuelan state encompassing 74% of English-speaking Guyana’s current landmass. The new area would be called Guayana Esequiba.

So if Venezuela does this, would anyone intervene?

The government of Brazil has already expressed their concerns, and the Brazilian military has bolstered forces in the northern part of the country…

“The Ministry of Defense has been monitoring the situation. Defensive actions have been intensified in the northern border region of the country, promoting a greater military presence,” Brazil’s defense ministry said in a statement.

I never imagined that we would be talking about a potential war between Venezuela and Brazil in 2024, but here we are.

Could the U.S. also get involved? It is no secret that the U.S. has wanted to get rid of Maduro for a long time, but we already have our hands full with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Speaking of the Middle East, the USS Carney and at least two commercial ships were attacked in the Red Sea on Sunday…

A U.S. warship and multiple commercial vessels were reportedly under attack in the Red Sea on Sunday.

The development could signify a serious escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Middle East linked to the Israel-Hamas war.

“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available, later,” a Pentagon spokesman told Fox News, after the Associated Press reported on an attack on a U.S. warship in the Red Sea.

It is being reported that the USS Carney actually shot down two drones during the attacks…

The Carney responded after hearing from the Bahamas-flagged bulk carrier Unity Explorer that it was under attack by missile fire, the official said. The Carney shot down two drones during the attack, one in self-defense and another after checking on the Unity Explorer, the official said.

So who was responsible?

The Houthis in Yemen have taken responsibility for attacking the commercial ships, but they haven’t said anything about the USS Carney…

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have ambushed multiple ships in the Red Sea in recent days, claimed responsibility for attacking two commercial ships but made no mention of the Carney.

The attacks, combined with an increase in clashes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah near the Lebanon border, could represent steps toward an expansion of the war in the region, something the Biden administration has labored to prevent.

Will the U.S. bomb the Houthis in retaliation for this attack? We shall see.

Meanwhile, the IDF is operating “in new areas of the Gaza Strip”, and Yoav Gallant says that the ultimate goal of this operation is “the absolute elimination of the Hamas terror organization”…

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant stated on Saturday night that the military is operating in new areas of the Gaza Strip, adding that Jerusalem’s war objective to fully dismantle Hamas remains unaltered.

“In the last two days, we are operating in areas we have not been active in over the last month, and it will increase and intensify,” said Gallant. “This operation will reach every point that needs to be reached. We are going for the absolute elimination of the Hamas terror organization.

“We are going until we defeat them, dismantle their military capabilities and break their governing ability, and we will need to do this by adapting to the new conditions of the terrain we are fighting in. There will be intense and precise fire,” continued the minister.

After the horrific attacks of October 7th, Israel has no other choice.

You can’t negotiate with barbarians that will kill children, rape women and kidnap the elderly.

One survivor of the attacks saw “eight or ten of the fighters” raping one very unfortunate Israeli woman…

After an hour, the shift manager peeked out. ‘I saw this beautiful woman with the face of an angel and eight or ten of the fighters beating and raping her.’

The woman was screaming ‘stop it’ he said, and begged the terrorists to kill her to put her out of her misery.

‘When they finished they were laughing and the last one shot her in the head’, he said.

The Israeli government fully intends to wipe out Hamas, and that makes major escalation of the war very likely.

On Sunday, Hezbollah once again attacked IDF forces on the northern front, and the IDF responded by conducting “extensive airstrikes” in Lebanon…

The Israeli military released footage of extensive airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Sunday following an attack by the terrorist organizations.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an anti-tank missile attack that “lightly injured” multiple IDF servicemembers. Israel responded with artillery fire and airstrikes.

IDF warplanes recently attacked a number of targets of the terrorist organization Hezbollah, including terrorist infrastructure and military targets,” IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari wrote in a statement. “Also, following the warnings in the north of the country, in the last hour a number of launches were detected towards Israeli territory from Lebanese territory. IDF forces attacked the sources of the fire with artillery.”

Now that the truce in the south is over, I expect more clashes to erupt in the coming days.

Hezbollah should stop while they still can, but they aren’t going to do that.

And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning that Lebanon will be destroyed if they continue to go down this road…

“We are acting in the north all the time against all efforts by Hezbollah to operate against us. We are eliminating terror cells, pushing them away from the border, destroying munitions. We will continue with strong deterrence in the north, and total victory in the south,” he said.

“It should be clear, we are committed to restoring security to the south and the north. If Hezbollah makes a mistake and enters into a full-out war it will destroy Lebanon with its own hands,” Netanyahu warned.

This is certainly a time of wars and rumors of wars.

We are being told that Ethiopia and Eritrea “may be heading for another war”, the Russians are advancing in Ukraine, a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan is looming, and North Korea is making all sorts of threats.

It appears that 2024 is going to be a year of war, and that is not good news for any of us.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.