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Is always a concern, Americans only comprehend force and will until they get their teeth kicked in. Oil is a large part of the economy here, Canada never focused on developing resources though instead of just selling it to the US.

Colombia may not go down the same way, and Trump hates hard work. Canada is trying to pivot to EU, but I guess China is more likely.

https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c5yqygxe41pt?post=asset%3Aea9f1475-6c65-4930-8370-04be588ee845#post Oh wow. This is a first time a US president just right out said they did it for the oil... Wonder how Canada is going to survive this shift in oil export. Maybe sell to China? Also a good chances that the rest of South American countries start arming themselves as fast as possible after this. Wonder who they will buy their weapons from?

Likelyhood of civil war in Venezuela increased quite lot. They were already quite close, and now current regime is in chaos, but probably will not give up their position willingly and I am not sure that opposition has enough power to force regime change without bloodshed. This will also most likely start new era of forced regime changes all over the world. Or at least attempts. As what is allowed to one is seen allowed to all.

That won't fly with congress, or popular opinion. But Trump is kinda pretending that there is legality to regime change, by bringing along the DEA, when it's really just an exercise of power. Most experts don't buy the notion that Maduro is part of a cartel. He is corrupt and he did seize power illegally, though. Reminds me of the invasion of Panama. Although it's not really clear what will happen next. If the US now has to provide security for a new government it could still end up very messy.

It's not a bad outcome. Now we just need Trump to do the same to Netanjahu.

Enshrouded: ---I'm 70% enjoying the game, I guess, but it feels similar to No Man's Sky, where as I unlock stuff and try things, I slowly realize 80% of the unlocks I have zero interest in/would never use. But NMS has the advantage of zillions of planets for random fresh starts vs. Enshrouded's static map and questing (even if it's pretty large). I think most (solo) people who get more than 100-200 hrs out of enshrouded are going to be the mega-builders, who want to make 5+ massive, 30hr+ to make each one, bases needing 1000's and 1000's of materials for both walls and deco (I swear 78% of crafting is deco, like spoons, plates, chairs, plants, lighting, etc). ---all I care about is block varieties (metal, wood, colors, styles), altar-placement-limit upgrades, backpack upgrades and storage upgrades. ---the farming is a cozy or mass production effort thing for those who like such. You don't have to do it if you don't want, you'll loot the minimums for main upgrades. ---the cooking/foods, far as I'm concerned, are too many and aren't that useful. Just like NMS. Maybe a few, or on hardest difficulties, but I mean, mostly it's a time-waster. ---weapons are mostly found/loot, armor is occasionally looted but is mostly crafted (but as a mage, don't really need a lot of that) ---the fishing mechanic reminds me a bit of FFXV. Although you can also put it on Easy where you auto reel fish in. >.> ---I could see myself replaying the game a couple times, "rushing" more to certain points and then just building, but that's probably about it (at its current EA stage anyway) Early on I found a pair of boots with 6% faster run. Since there are no mounts, I've kept those on forever. I have yet to see any more upgraded boots - crafted or loot - with that attribute. I'm at around 60-70 hrs probably, still haven't seen all biomes. I do get task-distracted a lot tho.

made our two new years mainstays: pork and sauerkraut hoppin' john black-eyed peas freeze better than hoppin' john, so before we added the rice, we set aside half o' the peas. our family don't particular like black-eyed peas or hoppin' john. as such we got a fair amount o' leftovers. our grandfather became a fan o' pennsylvania dutch style pork and sauerkraut, so our grandmother made it yearly and everybody in our family grew to enjoy the recipe. no leftover pork and sauerkraut. we also made collard greens and cornbread muffins. our clan appreciates our collard greens, but that is 'cause we sauté with 'em with a fair bit o' molasses. genuine southern-style collard greens is too sloppy, wet and bitter for our delicate relatives. in any event, the collard greens and cornbread muffins has vanished. also made a charred cabbage salad which includes hazelnuts, bacon and gargonzola as well as a sweet dijon and vinegar dressing. not a hit with the kids, but the adults liked it. we bought a pie for desert. *shrug* am not a fan o' baking and we already made the cornbread muffins, so... in any event, we do have a fair bit o' black-eyed pea leftovers, which am admitting were part o' the plan from the get-go. HA! Good Fun!

Goal 9/2025 achieved December 31, 17:45 – Finally, I was able to have few hours long session for finishing XCOM: Enemy Unknown from GOG. I wanted to finish few more achievements before finishing the game (Including one rare for mind-controlling an Ethereal), so I have postponed the last mission for a while. Before the last mission. After I have filled out all of my check-boxes and some crafting, I've entered the Gollop Chamber with one of my Psionic trained soldiers. The contact with the Hive Mind was successful and I've entered the Temple Ship. With that I have also unlocked last Slingshot DLC achievement, as one member of my party was Shaojie Zhang, whom I've befriended long time ago in "Low Places". The last mission felt a little bit easier than some of the basic missions. Maybe due to me trying to be as cautious as possible. The game as a whole was real gem for me and worth the time spent on it, although I had my "reservations" about the alien spawn mechanic. As it was my first playthrough, I've made many mistakes, which cost me few soldiers, but on Normal difficulty it was manageable to redeem them. 45 hours in total. Not much time this year to play a lot of games, so hopefully a little bit more time will be available next year

I wonder if anyone has told Trump just how bad Venezuelan oil is? Canada's tar sands aren't great, but they make the vast majority of Venezuela's stuff look like light sweet Brent comparatively.

Not anymore, according to Lavrov anyway