Watching the rising clamor around the Venezuelan boat debacle, I feel reflexively tempted to perform the "Orange Man Bad" ritual, because the situation strikes me as legitimately bad both in principle and precedent, to say nothing of the capriciousness and hypocrisy, but I don't imagine we will have a useful conversation that transcends present tribalism without zooming out to an historical arc that long predates either Trump presidency.

Full multi-media version of this episode with interesting links and related content: https://blog.awgibbs.com/2025/12/07/beyond-boats/