Hi, dear listeners, this is Kate Riga. I'm here to make a quick pitch that you consider

becoming a TPM Prime member. TPM has used the member model for over a decade now, and our

loyal members are the only reason we've been able to weather the turbulence of the media landscape

and avoid the fate that has befallen so many other independent outlets. For $70, you get no paywall,

fewer ads, access to the Hive member forum, a member's only newsletter, and more. For $70, you get no paywall, fewer ads, access to the Hive member forum,

a member's only newsletter, and more. For $140 a year, you get all of that, plus no ads at all.

Without our members, there is no podcast, not to mention that I'm out of a job. Thank you so much

for listening and supporting us. We couldn't do it without you. Hi, this is Josh Marshall, and this is the Josh Marshall podcast featuring Kate Riga.

It is January 7th, Wednesday.

First of all, we've been off for two or three weeks, but it's great to be back. And, you know, it's funny, I hear from, we hear from a lot of you. And it is incredibly flattering to hear that some of you, you know, rely on hearing from us each week and kind of processing the news and all that kind of stuff. And when we're not there, you're like, wait, what happened? I, you know, I rely on you guys. And that's so flattering to hear. So thank you for saying that we

are back, back to our regular schedule. And we are just going to dive right in. So, well, first of

all, I mean, the big thing now is whatever just happened in Venezuela

and we're getting the sort of, you know, when Trump does something and he gets excited

about it, he's like threatening to do it to 10 other ways.

And I did a post about this, not yesterday, day before yesterday, I guess Monday, that the

thing that I still can't get beyond and maybe there's, maybe there's new news this morning that I haven't seen yet,

but we're having this debate in this country about how the U.S. is going to run Venezuela

or how it's going to restructure its oil industry or rebuild the infrastructure of its oil industry.

But actually, the Venezuelan government is there, and it's still functioning.

And it hasn't gone anywhere.

And so the whole thing is sort of like unreal and bizarre, you know, that it wasn't clear at first,

like what had actually happened in this military operation. And I think it's pretty clear now that it wasn't clear at first, like, what had actually happened in this military

...