Notices by Sean Casten (seancasten@mastodon.social)

Anyone who refers to Donald Trump as “President” and not by the highly accepted newer and more accurate term “Convicted Felon and Adjudicated Rapist” is THE ENEMY.

You cannot assert that the crypto industry is primarily a legitimate business that just happens to have a few bad seeds as long as the largest players in the space are built on money laundering. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/business/changpeng-zhao-binance.html

The case for capitalism is that if you can't provide maximum value at lowest cost you won't succeed. Trumpism is the opposite of that, esp as relates to fossil fuels, where the rules are "if you can't compete, call us and we'll protect you from those pesky markets." https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/climate/coal-industry-power-plants-trump.html

In response to Thomas Massie's actions to force a vote on the impeachment of Pete Hegseth... Mike Johnson has cancelled all remaining votes between today and the November election. You can't make this stuff up.

This is very good and unambiguously the right decision - as 240 bipartisan current and former members of Congress wrote in our amicus brief. But what Alito, Thomas and Kavanaugh did here shows them for the hacks they are. This should have been unanimous. https://apnews.com/article/trump-mail-voting-executive-order-lawsuit-78a4fbeb48d9c5fd27d1c865529fc65f

1. The United States does not have any legal authority to own, control or manage the sovereign assets of a foreign nation under US, Venezuelan or international law.

I have some thoughts on this story: https://www.notus.org/us-news/republicans-worry-trumps-oil-meddling-could-stall-venezuelas-elections

Postscript to this in today's WSJ. Look at how what Trump is doing in Venezuela is adversely affecting the way every other country is dealing with the US. If you care about US global standing in the world, we have to show that this isn't who we are. https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/canada-doesnt-want-to-be-the-next-venezuela-334d9b08

11. Anyway, this is going to be a mess to untangle, and will attract the shadiest of characters trying to make it too complicated to unwind as long as the White House is corrupted with crooked cops. But crimes will be prosecuted. /fin

9. The larger legal issue that we all should be focused on is that ANYONE who is monetizing assets that were fraudulently obtained is ultimately at risk of forfeiting those funds and should be EXTREMELY careful not to expose their shareholders to that risk. https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-chevron-trump-oil-4d77fa9a9d53fc8693a242fbbb07fcef

8. (At which point I should remind you that if Trump can invade Venezuela and seize Maduro because he was indicted in a NY court then a future Venezuelan leader could invade the US and seize Donald Trump because he was indicted in a NY court. But I digress.)

7. Would we like to see a democracy in Venezuela? Sure. But you can't argue that you're advocating for the rule of law while you're profiting off of a theft that was NEVER justified on democratic grounds. (They said it was for drugs first, then because Maduro was indicted in New York.)

6. So back to the original article. Republicans having concerns about the deal because of it's impact on Venezuelan elections is directionally interesting but a rather bizarre take.

5. Trump is making this complicated in ways that will make this difficult to unwind, including by entangling federal agencies in the coercion itself and the financial transaction. But we can't let the complexity blind us to the underlying illegality. https://www.semafor.com/article/09/02/2026/trumps-venezuela-deal-draws-scrutiny-of-obscure-pentagon-office

4. To state the obvious, this is equally true if the mugger forces you to give your wallet to his friend. Coercion is coercion and theft is theft. Any contract signed under those conditions is unenforceable. Including this one. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/29/business/energy-environment/venezuela-alejandro-betancourt-oil-trump.html

3. As a legal matter, coercion does not make things legal. A mugger doesn't own your wallet just because you gave it to him at gunpoint.

2. When asked directly under what authority the US was acting, Sec. Bessent (a) did not know (b) contradicted what Sec. Rubio had told Senate Foreign Relations and (c) has to date failed to provide specific answers to any of the questions we raised with him 6 months ago. https://youtu.be/GNqp9eUFfhc?si=jZc5gdnM4Uwhp-Pn

10. And the most likely entity to cry foul would be Venezuela's bond holders who have been defrauded of their underlying security. China in particular. https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/econographics/inside-the-power-struggle-over-venezuelas-debt-restructuring/

First they gutted the Foodborne Disease Surveillance Program that led to cyclospora's explosive diarrhea. Now their trade policies are jacking up the price of toilet paper. I leave you to explain this more pithily, perhaps with some 4 letter synonyms. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/26/paper-product-toilet-paper-tariffs-us-canada

“Walk loudly and carry a small stick” is the core of Trumpism, and Bessent is among its most talented practitioners.