Beltway Insider: Trump/Venezuelan Military Operation, Swiss Blaze, Tatiana Schlossberg-Moran

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Category: Haute This Issue

Published on Saturday, 03 January 2026 15:59

Written by Janet Walker

President Trump announced, today, a midnight raid in the capital city of Caracas carried out by the U.S. Military, after months long build up, resulted in the arrest and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The President's job approval rating, according to Gallup featured in The New York Times for the period ending January 3, 2026, of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President remained constant with 36% and those who disapprove of his effectiveness as president decreased one percentage point to 59%. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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Trump Attacks Venezuela

After months of presenting Venezuela, and especially President Nicolas Maduro, as a narco-terrorist state, President Trump, in a well-planned midnight raid capture the South America leader, along with his wife, Celia Flores. Both are being transported on the U.S. warship USS Iwo Jima, to New York where they will be formally charged in the Southern District of New York.

The aftermath of the raid, and removal of Maduro, places the nations rich oil deposits in the hands of the U.S. government.

"As everyone knows, the oil business in Venezuela has been a bust, a total bust for a long period of time. They were pumping almost nothing by comparison to what they could have been pumping and what could have taken place," Trump told reporters Saturday. "We're going to have our very large United States oil companies — the biggest anywhere in the world — go in, spend billions of dollars, fix the badly broken infrastructure — the oil infrastructure — and start making money for the country," The Washington Post reported.

Venezuela's oil deposits, which were reported in the December 20, 2025 issue of the Beltway Insider, "Currently, Venezuelan pumps 900,000 barrels of oil daily, and the nation has the richest oil deposit in the world and produces only 1 percent. If the Venezuelan oil market collapse it would cause a rapid domino effect across the entire Maduro government, as oil exports are 90% of the nation's economy, which would set the stage for a military or political coup and having a new government, loyal or aligned to the United States or an ally, in place creates the opportunity for stricter controls on oil export. As China is the primary importer of Venezuelan oil, China would not benefit if the market collapsed. However, the United State would benefit, and to some degree even Russian dictator Vladimir Putin would benefit, as the collapse would affect the global price of oil, meaning every oil producing nation would see a jump in per barrel price."

Moreover, whoever controls the oil, has leverage or bargaining chips to control other areas of the global economy. As China is the primary importer of Venezuelan oil, now Chinese President Xi-Jinping must reckon with Mr. Trump on a variety of issue, including tariffs.

Russian President Vladmir Putin, who provided Maduro with military protection in exchange for cheaper crude prices, will experience a fluctuation in the crude economy, and quite possibly as it is the middle of winter, will be more inclined to cease war operations in Ukraine if his barter arrangement for crude is reworked.

As it stands, the U.S. will govern the Venezuelan oil fields, and will use military forces, boots on the ground, not as a ground war, but as a stabilization period, and democratic president loyal to the U.S. can be elected.

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Swiss New Years Day Blaze, Kills 40

Le Constellation, a two floor Swiss bar club, filled to capacity for the New Year's Eve celebration, became a death trap as a fast moving blaze ignited by sparklers atop champagne bottles, quickly ignited the acoustic egg foam basement ceiling, killing 40 and injuring 119.

The upscale club, located in the heart of the Crans-Montana municipality of Switzerland, was 30 minutes from the 2:00 AM mandatory closing time for clubs and bars in the region, when a fire was reported in the crowded lower basement level. The upper floor included a restaurant, with outdoor seating on a patio, facing the panoramic views of the Swiss Alps.

Valais, Switzerland, the region where Le Constellation is located,  allows youth as young as 16 to buy beer and wine, and the bar was filled with upwards of 300 people trying to escape. Many of them under the between the ages of 16 and 21. The death toll is expected to rise.

Images from survivors, and a promotional video of the club, owned by the French couple, Jacques and Jessica Moretti., show the layout of the basement club; the ceiling appears a standard 8' to 9' feet in height, with exposed ductwork and pipes, and lined with acoustic foam "eggshell" sound absorbers.

Video's also show revelers celebrating the New Year with champagne, arriving with sparklers atop the bottles, carried by waitstaff above their heads to protect guests from burns. One image shows a female riding a man's shoulders, being carried through the crowd with champagne sparklers.

Access to the club's lower level was gained through a single narrow staircase, and when the capacity crowd began to understand the blaze was not a stunt, the only exit was immediately filled as panic set in, and the fire took over.

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Videos from Inside

A video posted on Reuters, show club goers escaping up the narrow staircase, which led to a capacity crowd on the first floor, who had no idea of the fire in the basement.

The New York Times video, which can be viewed here shows the ceiling already on fire, while revelers are still receiving champagne at their tables, also includes images of bodies pouring out of the building in an effort to escape, which looks like a regurgitation from an open window, and bodies are piled atop one another pouring out the window.

The New York Times video shows a man attempting to douse the fire, and nearly out of frame another party goer, videotaping the spreading flame while raving, the image shows the cellphone bouncing to a beat. Again, the staggering loss of life, that may grow, and the permanent injury which officials believe was caused by sparklers atop champagne bottles, is another example of failing to exercise common sense in the wake of clear danger.

The thirst for influencer fame kept many inside the inferno as they captured footage of the ceiling fire and attempts to put an already fast moving fire out with towels.

Several survivors spoke with Reuters helping piece together the scene, "Laetitia Place, 17, said she had just entered the basement area expecting to meet friends when the fire exploded and raced across the ceiling. "The first stairs are pretty easy to get through since they're wide," she said. "But after that, there's the small door where everyone was pushing, and so we all fell. We were piled on top of each other; some people were burning, and some were dead next to us." Clavier, who was also in the basement, said [. . . ] "We couldn't see anything at all, as there was no light," he told reporters on Friday. "There was one door of 1.5 meters (4.9 ft) wide for some two or three hundred people to get out. The people fell, and they suffocated."

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Injuries

For the survivors, the road to recovery is a long one. The closet tragedy of this magnitude which resulted in such extensive burns would be the New Zealand, White Island volcano eruption.

"Two hospitals in Switzerland have specialized treatment facilities for major burns, one each in Lausanne and Zurich, according to Claire Charmet, the director of the Lausanne University Hospital, which has one of the burn facilities. Ms. Charmet told 24 Heures, a Swiss news website, that her hospital had received 22 patients injured in the fire. She said most of the survivors were ages 16 to 26," The New York Times reported.

The severity of the injuries, many of whom were burned over 80% of their bodies, and suffered inhalation burns in their lungs, the prognosis is challenging. The three month prognosis of events of this magnitude are roughly 55% according to the NIH. The road to recovery for the victims is wrought with trauma.

The White Island (Whakaari) eruption in December 2019 left many victims with severe burns, with 22 people dying and 25 surviving with major injuries, requiring extensive skin grafts and leading to amputations for some, like survivor Stephanie Browitt, who faced a long recovery from burns to most of her body and lost fingers, while also mourning her father and sister lost in the disaster. The eruptions of ash, steam, chemicals, and gases caused horrific, deep burns, necessitating international aid for skin grafts and long-term treatment. 

Flashover

The flashover created by the Le Constellation fire resulted in a simultaneous combustion of every item in its wake, including everything, from the ceiling to the clothing on the victims. This type of fire produces a deadly black cloud that makes it impossible to breathe.

A flashover occurs when hot gases rise to the ceiling and spread across the walls, according to the US-based National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). The heat then intensifies until all combustible items in the room reach their ignition point and catch fire.

"As the fire spreads, it starts to seek out more oxygen, [Stephen] MacKenzie said. If an opening is made to admit oxygen – such as a door being opened as people try to escape – this could have created a "chimney effect," he said, which accelerated the flow of smoke and combustible gases upward. "You've got a hot gas layer developing, you've got the heat radiating down on you. People start to realize, I need to get out of here," he said. The fire will also have generated a mix of combustible gasses, MacKenzie said, which will start to ignite. "The smoke is actually on fire," he said," CNN reported.

This process develops in a matter of seconds and by two minutes, escape is rendered impossible.

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Coronavirus Total

At the order of the President of the United States, the U.S. no longer recognizes the value of The World Health Organization. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens should receive at least one shot of an updated COVID-19 vaccine, annually.  The death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases continue each week, fewer are dying from each new variants.

For the seven days ending January 3, 2026, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by the World Health Organization remained consistent 778,994,897. The total worldwide death toll also remained consistent 7,106,996 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated December 7, 2025, from the World Health Organization).

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Tatiana Schlossberg-Moran Dies

Tatiana Kennedy-Schlossberg Moran, the daughter of Carolina B. Kennedy and Edwin Schlossberg, and the granddaughter of the late President John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline B. Kennedy, died December 30, 2025 after a yearlong private battle with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. She was 35.

Ms. Schlossberg Moran, a Climate Change journalist, graduated from Yale University and Oxford University and began her journalistic career at the New jersey record, and then covered the environment and science beat for The New York Times.

Ms. Schlossberg married Dr. George Moran in September 2017, and have two children, Edwin, 4, and Josephine, 20-months. After the birth of her daughter in 2024, physicians explained her condition, which began a 19-month battle to live.

In a recent essay, published in The New Yorker, published on November 22, the 63rd anniversary of her grandfather's assassination in Dallas, Texas, she revealed her terminal illness, breaking a story that few knew, in which she lambasted her uncle, Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for cutting federal funding on medical research, which for her, even with her position, fame, and financial freedom, resulted in a loss of possible research options to fight Acute Myeloid Leukemia, the rare form of genetic mutation that had invaded her blood.

In her poignant essay, The Battle with My Blood, she wrote of emotions, universal to the human condition, giving readers a glimpse into the life of a cancer patient, a wife and mother feeling robbed of the life she and her husband planned, of using humor to propel herself past the profound sorrow, "I did not — could not — believe that they were talking about me," she wrote of the first talk of leukemia. "I had swum a mile in the pool the day before, nine months pregnant. I wasn't sick. I didn't feel sick. I was actually one of the healthiest people I knew. I regularly ran five to ten miles in Central Park."

Once the diagnosis was confirmed, she describes the suddenness of loss, "I didn't ever really get to take care of my daughter — I couldn't change her diaper or give her a bath or feed her, all because of the risk of infection after my transplants. I was gone for almost half of her first year of life. I don't know who, really, she thinks I am, and whether she will feel or remember, when I am gone, that I am her mother."

She is survived by her husband, George, two children, siblings, Rose Kennedy Schlossberg, and Jack Kennedy Schlossberg, and her parents, Caroline B. Kennedy-Schlossberg, and Edwin Schlossberg, and numerous cousins.

Funeral arrangement are private.

For more information on President Donald Trump: Whitehouse.gov.

Sources: Various © Articles covered by Copyright protection.

Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade.  A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five award-winning screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," a non-fiction narrative, "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," and "Songs of Freedom: A Collection of Biblical Teachings," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Authors Guild, the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.