Now your host Ken Brown on News radio seven hundred WLW.
There you murd it an extraction from Venezuela overnight. As our Gary Jeff Walker said this morning, in this week of transfer portals in college football, Nicholas Medoro and his wife have entered the transfer portal and they have a visit in New York this week in front of a in front of a jury, in front of a judge on indictment charges. The legalities of all this are interesting. The political ramification of what has occurred is interesting. And
apparently now the United States is running Venezuela. I don't know where to begin on this one other than the guy was a thug and I'm glad he's gone by hooker by crook.
But on the other.
Standpoint, you're going to probably see a lot of legal hoops that the United States is going to have to jump through, and the howling on the left has already begun. Things are getting crazy, And when things get crazy politically, I want to bring in doctor bo Cabala. He is the tall estate professor of law and doctor how are you on this glorious Saturday?
Doing great?
Thanks for having me, ken Ye talk about an extraordinary day.
Yeah, I'm saying I was enraptured by the whole extra extraction of these two people. And then out of the blues, Trump says, and we're going to be running Venezuela.
How does that work? How can he do that well?
Direct?
And to the point of course Vice President now has already been sworn in, and the noble laureate in Venezuela, Maria Machado, has expressed tremendous hope. So you know, I think in the interim, to ensure an orderly transition of power, the US will be will be running things. I didn't take that to be a sort of long term declaration of conquest by any means.
Yep.
And he re sizes or will re seize the oil operations in Venezuela, which we're taken.
By the way, I think this hasn't been pointed out yet.
Those oil operations were taken over by Hugo Chavez and his protogy. Now Maduro, they seize those operations from American oil companies. I think one company gave it back with under the point of a gun saying you're either going to give it to us or we're going to kill you. Yeah. So those are rightfully possessions of the major oil companies of the United States, which the United States government helped
fund all those years ago, twenty five years ago. So that should not be murky ground, should it.
Exactly, it should not. You're talking about expropriation which also detrimentally impacted, you know, the people of Venezuela when the socialist inspired party of both Chaves and Maduro did that. So no, that's an absolutely fair point, you know, to me. Ken to the extent that people are going to trying to make hay out of this, it'll have to do with the UN Charter, uh and talking about state sovereignty.
But I would say remember at that point, even the UN Charter, the way it sort of sets up state sovereignty, says states can do this when it's a question of self defense. And I don't think there's too many questions about just the amount of drugs that were being funneled into the US, uh, you know, by this narco terrorist regime. So I agree with you. The point about the oil companies and the broader point about you know, America defending itself all relevant.
I would think, Yeah, the the old f A f O applies here, I mean Trump, Trump was blowing up, blowing up these drug boats, and it was like a warning, you know, you better stop, you better stop. And he gave the guy several off ramps that he just chose not to get the off ramp. Now, doctor, this is a exactly this exactly this is this is something else
that I think will be of interest. You can get a judge to you anything in the United States, and I'm sure that there are groups right now assembling judge shopping to get this case in front of that judge or having it challenged in the Southern District of New York to try it, if nothing else in Barris Trump. But my question to you politically is why would the Democrats embrace a guy like Maduro? What would the pushback
be on Trump for this? Knowing full well that we have a margarita sipping senator from Maryland that already has cozied up to an MS thirteen gang member, what would the point be of the Democrats trying to push back on this?
Well, and I.
Agree with you, and just like you know, those optics you know of sipping the margarita were incomprehensible to me, I would think this is incomprehensible as well. You've got, you know, clearly a dictator who is not there legitimately, who's pu untold numbers of Americans responsible for.
Death and destruction.
Is it possible that there are some people who are sincerely objecting based on process?
You know, I'm open.
I work with people of different persuasions at a university.
Sure, I'm open to that.
But I agree with you.
I don't think it's most of the activists right now who will be judge shopping. I think that's an attempt to make political hay out of this, and to the extent that it's you know, Judge Alvin Hellerstein there on the US District Court who is presiding. I don't know that there's going to be a lot of judge shopping to do based on what I know of his record.
Yeah, no, well there should not be. But I think my point of finding a judge to take any case, because the judge is an activist judge and he aligns himself with whatever wacko ideologically ideology that he embraces, I think it could. I mean, the possibility of this thing getting derailed between now and when and if it goes to trialle I think is remote. I think you're right, but you know, there's always hope out there.
Now.
I'm just here's the other thing I was wondering about when I watched this today. This seemed to be a full, full pronged event. Here you had Rubio, you had hag Seth, obviously, you had the President. BONDI wasn't there, and I honestly think that was a good thing. And then and then you you also had the DEA, which actually carried out the arrest. So this wasn't you know, Trump sending in the seal team and saying, all right, get this guy
out of here. This was this was an entire government effort here.
No, that's right.
And in terms of the intense phase of the extraction, you know, which took thirty five minutes, I think delta forces were in play there. But I agree with you in terms of the justification I'm seeing at this point for you know, why the US military had to be involved protecting law enforcements absolutely, you know, seeing this as a US criminal law matter essential. I absolutely agree with you on that.
Okay, So in his news conference, the President fired yet another warning shot across the bow of the Columbian president. We already know that the Mexican president. She president of Mexico, she is. She's all up in arms about this thing because Trump obviously knows. And in Mexico the cartels pretty much run that country too.
Right.
Does this bring these these other people back to heal or do you think that they're just going to go merrily along? You know, it's kind of like doctor, It's kind of like, you know, you do your taxes. I do my taxes, but if the guy across the street from you gets audited by the IRS, we do our taxes extra best. You know, we were really we're really
got to rye on the ball if that happens. What do you think happens here with these other South American countries that are, if not as complicit as Venezuela are, certainly they certainly have their hands dirty in cartel business.
Well?
Absolutely, I think the world is watching. And whether you're talking about the Colombian president Gustavo Petro or you mentioned, you know, President Shinbaum in Mexico. It never ceases to amaze me ken that the same folks who want to talk about how interconnected of a world we live in, how globalized. It is, you know, pivot back at times to emphasizing that we're all separate, disconnected nations.
We are not.
And so, you know, is Iran watching as well?
Absolutely?
I think so.
There to the extent that there's contested questions, you know, can something be done or not? Technically, I think the Trump administration showed there's no question that they can pull this kind of operation off. I mean, compare it even to what we did in Panama. You had twenty four American casualties. No American casualties here, No Venezuelan casualties that I saw.
So my thought is, you bet.
Watching and people respond to incentives.
So I agree with that.
I couldn't agree more.
You know, you watch what happened in in Uh in Iran this this summer when Yeh Bomber's basically, if not blew up, they certainly greatly curtailed Iran's nuclear capability.
And I watched that.
I watched what happened during Iran and for for all intents purposes, I'm sorry Israel, and for all intents and purposes Iran and Gaza, I'm watching that. And then I watched this, and it just leads me to wonder how could the previous administration be so neutered when it came to international affairs. I I just, I just it' it's it's astounding. Tony Blincoln could not have pulled this off.
Certainly Joe Biden could not have pulled this off. I'm just wondering how neutered was that that that particular regime in your opinion, uh, the last Biden administration.
Well, and certainly on top of what you mentioned the treatment of Iran in terms of I mean, I think it was actual, you know, cash payouts to go along with the nuclear deal. The contrast could not be more stark, and I think we can say so in fairness to you know, professionals across different administrations.
There was a previous.
Attempt to remove Maduro. And you know it's not clear the extent to which the Trump administration was involved the private contractors in twenty twenties. So if we want to be entirely fair, sure, you know, no administration is perfect, but yes, overall the Biden administration allowing the invasion of
Ukraine to happen on their watch. I mean I was reading a report and I think it was blinkin even Tony Blinken, saying, as much as he disagrees on process grounds with how Trump operates, how the president does things, he wished is that he had the contacts and just the ability to pull things off at that speed. So I agree, it's not just a different vibe. I think it's a different way of seeing the world. It's a different philosophy and and and I think it has.
Very deep roots.
Well, doctor Cabala, we appreciate your rocket and rolling with us today. It's been an eventful last ten hours or so. We'll see how this plays out with the American population. We'll see what the political wins look like in the wake of this. But I would think so far, so good. Listen, well, we can do this more in depth. I'll ring you up this week and then we'll try and do it more in depth at some point then, Will that be all right with you?
I would truly look forward to And I was just going to say quickly, the way that these strikes are carried out, and then it appears Trump doesn't fall for the temptation of nation building. You know plenty to talk about there, but certainly I'd be delighted. And like you said, so far, so good. And just a historic day.
It seems like, well, you know what, you and I could maybe be vacationing together in Venezuela next year. Right, he may turn it into another beachfront property. We could all go down there and surf. Of course we'd have to find the beach front. But nevertheless, that could be what's on on the board next.
Or Gaza if things go at this threat who knows, who knows?
Gaza?
Yeah, Trump, Plaza Gazza. All right, doctor, thanks for tom. We appreciate it.
Thank you so much.
Have a nice one, doctor Bocabala, Tarland State University, Professor of Law. Wow Wow, Wow, twelve fifty six on this Saturday, news radio seven hundred WLW.
Now your host Ken Brew on news radio seven hundred wl W.
It's what on nine and we're counting down to UC basketball at the bottom of the hour. You see against Houston. Houston is Houston is very good.
Anyway, we'll see how it plays out.
Dan Horde and Terry Nelson and Moeger with all the coverage from fifth Third Arena tomorrow. It's the Browns and the Bengals. That's how the twenty twenty five now into twenty twenty six. That's how the twenty twenty five season ends, same way as it began. Brown's and Bengals up in Cleveland in Week one. And here we go today, the day before the Browns and Bengals meet at pay Course Stadium tomorrow. The Browns of four and twelve, they seem to be a team adrift and possibly on the verge
of a major shakeup. Yet again, inside that team, it's amazing how instability leads to just lousy records. And I suppose if there's one criticism of Mike Brown that resounds more than anything is that he is too patient. But we're seeing in Cleveland what lack of patients is over the course of the last twenty five years. And so here come the Browns with Shador Sanders's quarterback, with Jerry as their number one wide receiver. Think about that for
a second. Here come the Browns who traded Joe Flacco inside the division to the Bengals in the middle of the season. And here come the Bengals who are trying to finish the season at seven to ten. If you think it's been bad down here this year, it has been a circus in Cleveland once again, and when it comes to circuses standing by to join us as a man who covers the Browns for Theathletic dot Com. And I've said this many times and I'm going to say
it again. The best investment you can make in sports journalism is the Athletic. There are no junk ads, no roll up videos, just good solid sports journalism. And somebody who is a part of that is Zach Jackson, beat writer Cleveland Brown. Zach, how are you on this glorious day before.
The game when I'm with you? Because you and my mom are my fan club, I'm always good. It's been a long season since Week one deeps first tangled.
As you guys know, is it fair to say this season didn't go as planned for either team?
I think that's pretty much fair to say.
Yeah, certainly for the Bengals. You know, the Browns had weird, mixed expectations that certainly weren't as high as the other teams. But they did have a defense that's, you know, elite. I hate to throw that word around, but I think it's fair to say it's Penny Lee. But yeah, the
quarterback thing has been a mess. You know, they come into Sunday and out of Sunday with uncertainty around almost every level of the franchise, you know, not just the normal roster thing, and you know, it's it's been disappointing, sure because they this is a team that could be better, right like this is this is the franchise isn't a bad spot. But nobody looked at the product on the field and said this is as bad as the Jets
and the Raiders. You know, so we'll see. I mean, now, the offense has been that bad, but the defense has been has been really good for most almost all.
Well, the fact of the matter is, you should have won the first meeting of the season. I mean, the kicker, you know, apples up on a couple of kicks that look like Gimmey's, and all of a sudden the Bengals skate out of Cleveland with a win, and that might have started the spiral.
I don't know.
I kind of look at Cleveland as you know, they're really good in spots. I think their defense is terrific. I think their front seven is really good. Obviously in their secondary, they've got veteran talent and Ward and Delpit. They they acquired Campbell. I mean it looks like they're trying to do and are accomplishing things on defense, but on offense, I mean it's it's just does Kevin Stefanski has even delta fair hand offense Shaan Watatson thing, and
they're now having wide receivers to throw two. I don't think it's I think that's as much a problem as anything, is it not?
Oh, for sure, the construction of the offense is deplorably back. You know when you talk about Week one, Yes, the kicks are, but really it's the two interceptions off guys just by catching the ball. That's kind of the story of the season. You know. The offensive line, I think it's been nine different offensive line combinations and that makes it harder. It's from three different quarterbacks that they at heart,
So there's been glimpses, but yeah, just been overall disappointing products. So, you know, good play out of the rookies, but but this receiving corps is bottom of the league, This offensive line is the bottom of the league. And none of them are under contract. None of the original starters anyway, are under contract for next year, so a lot of uncertainly. So yeah, that's kind of the discussion of my way ken, the fairness of this. You know how much losing was
expected versus how much has gone on. You know what's next for Kevin Stepaint. We don't know any of that. Snor Sanders has made some strides, He's made some awful throws. He's not surrounded by a great group. You mentioned Delpin in Ward. Those guys would start for any team in this league. And obviously Miles Garrett is in a galaxy of his own, and he's coming to get the NFL stack records on Sunday, and he probably will get it.
But you know, nobody also thinks that the Browns can score more than ten points because Erhold Fannon is not going to play, and this offensive line is a mess, and unless they get up early and can win a thirteen ten type game for this that history week, and then there's going to be real trouble for this office trying to keep up de Ice.
I think that you know, you'd have to be an idiot not to understand that what saves his job, it's certainly not winning this game this week. What would, if anything, would save his job, and.
An internal commitment and decision that it wasn't his fault right that he he has been a good coach. I think the last two years to me have shown that he's not a great coach. He's not one of the better coaches. Like, look what Seohn Payton's done. What's in the hand he was delt. You know, look what Kyle Shanahan has done with the team this year that didn't have it guys for seventy five percent of the season. You know, my gut field canons that decision has been
made and he's going to be out. I think there's a little more cloudiness with the front office. But you know, we're talking about an organization that's never been normal. We're talking about an organization that's been back for three decades and has only had four winning seasons. And this ownership group is going on fifteen years and was the one that really signed off on the de Shaun Watson thing
that sunk everything. So in terms of firm predictions, until we know it on Sunday night or Monday, I don't know. And so when you ask that question, it's a fair one and it's a valid one. But I could probably tough for forty minutes that might give you a straight answer, because there is a lot of gray area here, and it really comes down to what what do you decide with the biggest reason that the offense didn't get any better this year?
You know?
And then whatever your answer is on that turns into well, what the heck gives you hope for it being better next year? Because you remember one receivers Jerry Judy, you have no offensive linement under contract, who have ever really been in your A plans? And their quarterback, I mean, you can make a case to Shador pretty easily deserves more development, but it gets much harder to make a case that he's actually the guy that you feel really good about going forward.
Yeah, and if indeed you go through a regime change front office, head coach, you go through coaching staffs, you probably lose a guy like Jim Schwartz, who it seems to me has done a hell of a job up there. But the fact of the matter is you're you're going to go through all that change again and as the next group been really going to be married to Shardoor Sanders and if they're not, then you're going through that
process again. And since the Browns came into the league, they've been nothing but change in the front office and in the coaching staff. This is the coach here is probably about as stable as any coach has been since they came back.
Right, yeah, oh six years. Yeah, that's that's sixty years by Brown standards. They're a guy Joel Beatonio the guard for twelve years, and he's been good enough as a guard on bad teams that you know him at Cincinnati, right, they know him across the league, certainly in the anfty doors.
When Joel plays what might be his last NFL game on Sunday, can he's been playing with the twenty second different quarterback that he's blacked, four starting quarterback that he's blacked for since twenty fourteen.
Wow, that's crazy.
I mean, how do you how do you expect to have any kind of success with that kind of turnover. I know everybody has draft busts and everybody goes through head coaches, but my gosh, after a while you land on go, don't you?
At some point? It's amazing how this team is just go yeah.
And that's kind of the evaluation of this year is like, Okay, it was never going to be good. Okay, there's some rokis that it's certainly a better draft class than they had. But you have to look at what was the plan because they pulled the plot on Joe Flacco after four weeks and then traded him to a division rival, which is a though no, and he could still play and it wasn't working here, and like I said, he clearly turned the ball over in a couple of games. It
didn't get help from his receivers. But it was like, what was next Dyllan Gabriel who immediately was diagnosed as this guy can't play, you know, and certainly didn't get any help. If there is another team in the NFL that liked still and Gabriel, or likes still in Gabriel, they might be willing to give him a chance because they can look and say he didn't have the receivers, he didn't have the offensive line. You know, there there
was a good quarter here and there. But when any time you play three different quarterbacks over the course of the year, you know you're probably in a bad, bad spot, right and there are teams that make it work. And when the Browns made the playoffs two years ago, they played five quarterbacks from week one to week seventeen. More times than that, it's you know, one was an injury related move to put somebody in a bad spot. One
was a desperation move to somebody else feels. And then when you're making the natural changes that you make along the way, you know you're left to sit in evalue eight what what was organically good, what could have worked better, and what just flat out didn't work? And frankly, when you finish the season for the second straight year ranked in the bottom three or four in every single major offensive category, then it's hard to give an offensive head coach another year.
Yeah, Zach Jackson the Athletic dot Com. You know, it's funny. The Bengals have, I think, without question, the best wide receiver quarterback combo in the division, maybe in the entire FC. But they've got that. The narrative down here, which I think is hilarious, is Okay, you've got that, But the defense is such a disaster despite nice pieces, that it's going to take one, maybe two off seasons to fix it to get it to a point where it can
contend for a Super World championship. Again, I guess my question to you, knowing that for a team that has the offensive proficiency that Cincinnati has, what do you I mean, you've seen this, this this act play out. How many how many off seasons is Cleveland before Cleveland? Is any work close to contended?
Yeah?
I mean I think I just said that someone earlier today, and I've probably said it ten times over the last months. The situation that this franchise is in the next time you're really taking it of temperature check is about Halloween of twenty seven ten. Next year is going to be worse talent wise because a lot of these older guys who have produced, whether they're still doing it or not,
are going out the door. You know, it's a completely blank played at quarterback in less shit or somehow becomes your answer, like as t easier quarterback for first four games next year? What does That's all?
You know?
The receiver group needs remade, the offensive line group needs remade, and the defense turn as good as the event has a lot of older guys, and if there's a new coach and a new coordinator, it's not going to be the same defense. And even if it is is it's hard to replicate what Schwartz has done. So Schwartz has been phenomenal and in the small chance that there is a head coaching change in Cincinnati has the first guy I would call Jim Schwartz because this defense continually shows up.
It played under these circumstances, and in the six years of the head coach and GM from Cleveland, the one thing they really have built the identity of the way Schwartz's defense is play right. And it's not just Hey, Miles garretta because he is he was that before. Schwartz guy. I think he's playing the best now. But they really built that identity and they showed it last week. They kind of got to take a whole victory lap against
the Steelers like that. I think they'll come out and they'll give burrough Fits something that I just don't know that the Browns can score enough to even begin to keep up.
Yeah, their front line is terrific, and like I said, we talked about the second or.
I think that's that's good too.
And you know, you can make an argument for Cleveland being one of the top four or five defenses in the leg and statistically higher than that.
Hey, Zach, thanks for your time.
I guess we'll say enjoy the season finale, but the enjoyment will be it is the season finale, and then the real starts. The story's never ended in Cleveland. Do they simply don't know?
No, Hey, you have to get two things. Can You have to get past the point where everything you hear is believable about wild stuff that goes on. And you have to get past the point where the off season is the season. You know, you build in the off season, you set the groundwork, but it has to be to where you're playing in games and evaluating guys and going in a straight line. And they just have not gone in any kind of straight line. When you play twelve
different quarterbacks over three seasons, there's no straight line. Right when you look at mid season and say we're pretty hopeless that wide receiver and offense client, there's no straight line. It's just what it's beat.
Keep up the good work.
You're one of the reasons why I subscribe, and I'm sure a lot of other people out there as well.
Zach, take care of Happy new year. We'll talk down the road.
Thanks, all right, We'll see you too.
Yeah. And the other thing about tomorrow is the sack record. Does Miles Garrett, defensive lineman extraordinary, best in the business. Does he get the sack record? Sack record in the NFL is twenty two and a half, twenty two and a half sacks in one season. That of course set by Michael Strahand in the calendar year twenty eight thousand and one, actually twenty twenty one. TJ one equal that as well. Strahan, who was shut out from a sack last week by the Steelers and they admitted that was
one of their top goals. Strayhan needs just half a sack half a sack to equal twenty two and a half on the season, and if he gets one, then he has the record. He has sacked Lamar Jackson twelve times in his career. He has sacked Joe Burrow twelve times in his career. Somebody asked him if he knew that stat going into this game.
What I've known absolutely.
I've seen his face on the ground looking up at me saying high Miles and Hi Joe.
Too many times. So yeah, I think you'd be at the time.
Well, we'll see tomorrow. I mean, it's one of the subplots. The other subplot is is what happens going forward with this Bengals franchise. It needs so much. I think there's a tendency to get caught up in recent events the last month of the season, get caught up in exactly what is transpired against weaker opponents. Come on, they haven't played anybody the last couple of weeks. In games that mattered, they couldn't win. Joe burrowed down for a majority of
the season. Okay, if you want to rely on that as an argument, great, Okay, fall back on that. All I know is this, Joe Flacco came here and put up some decent number. Is good enough to win the Jets on October the twenty six. Defensively, you give up five hundred and two yards two hundred and fifty four yards on the ground, and fuddle that up with another home game against the Chicago Bears five hundred and seventy six total yards, two hundred and eighty three on the ground.
So yeah, okay, Burrow not being here major factor. Flacco comes in Flaco, puts up numbers that are winnable in at least two games, and then who knows what the temper and the UH and the demeanor of that team is if you win against Chicago and you win against the Jets.
We'll never know, But I do know this.
They need a more than just a makeup, touch up on offense on defense going into the twenty twenty six season. So the Browns have major, major problems, and at least on one side of the ball, the Bengals have significant problems. And that sets the scene for tomorrow when we will reconvene at nine oh six from the Holy Grail to preview the Bengals and the Browns season finale at pay
Course Stadium. Stand by coming up in just a couple of minutes from fifth Third Arena, it'll be the University of Cincinnati against the University of Houston in what ought to be what should be a major attraction on the UC schedule this year home game against Houston.
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