Maybe the Angry Women - 4

 Considering women's rights to their own bodies!

Considering a woman elected president and having to live in hiding from a dictator who would not leave office. Maria Corina Machado. Then she won the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025...and how to collect it (see below)

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'She's awesome': How U.S. veterans helped Venezuela's Machado escape
December 12, 2025 5:33 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — It's an extraordinary achievement to win the Nobel Peace Prize. But for this year's laureate, even getting to the ceremony was a feat of its own.

María Corina Machado spent more than a year in hiding after her opposition movement defeated Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in last year's election by a wide margin, according to voting records validated by international observers. Maduro refused to leave office and ordered a massive crackdown on the opposition.

Getting Machado out of Venezuela and safely to Oslo required an operation worthy of a thriller. At the center of that mission was U.S. Special Forces Veteran Bryan Stern, the bearded, broad-shouldered founder of Grey Bull Rescue Foundation. Stern and his team of U.S. military veterans have pulled off hundreds of extractions around the world. But this one, he says, was different.

She's the second most popular person in the Western Hemisphere after Maduro," he said." Because of that signature, that's what made this operation very hard."

Stern and his team had only a week to plan Machado's escape, a mission they called Operation Golden Dynamite — a nod to Alfred Nobel, the Peace Prize founder who also invented dynamite.

A land route was ruled out — too many checkpoints where she'd be recognized. So, they decided to move by sea.

But they had to be careful. The U.S. military has built up a significant presence off Venezuela's coast, destroying nearly two dozen alleged narco-trafficking boats in recent months, killing at least 87 people. Stern wouldn't discuss details, but says he coordinated with U.S. officials who were aware they'd be operating in the area.

He was careful to avoid using a boat that could turn into a target. "I didn't want a big giant boat with big engines that could go fast and cut through waves," he said. "That's what the narcos use — and the U.S. military likes to blow them up."

Then their plan hit another snag: Ms. Machado's boat never arrived at the predetermined rendezvous point in the Caribbean Sea. 

"We were supposed to meet in the middle, but when that couldn't happen, we pivoted and went to them," Stern said.

In pitch darkness, with 10-foot waves smashing the sides of both boats and only flashlights to guide them, nerves frayed. Each crew worried the other could be cartel members, government agents, or worse.

"I could be Maduro's guys, I could be cartel guys — anything really," Stern said. "Everyone is skittish approaching each other in the dead of night at sea. In 10-foot waves? This is scary stuff."

Finally, once they were close enough to hear one another, a voice cut across the water.

"It's me — María!"

Stern hauled her aboard. With the wind at their backs, the final leg to a Caribbean island — which he declined to name, but is widely reported to be Curaçao — was mercifully smooth. A private plane was waiting to take her the rest of the way to Oslo.

Stern says Machado was tougher than the crusty veterans helping her escape.
"We're all bitching and moaning — it's cold, it's wet, we're hungry, it's dark," he said. "She didn't complain once."

Stern admits he was a bit star struck by Machado. He'd followed her fight for democratic change for years. He'd always assumed Venezuela's "Iron Lady" got her nickname from her political steeliness. But after that night, he says it's something more.

"She's gnarly," he said, laughing. "Pretty awesome."

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Reuters published on Dec 11, 2025: Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado has arrived in Oslo just hours after the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony — defying a decade-long travel ban after spending more than a year in hiding.

This year's peace laureate Maria Corina Machado has been forced to live in hiding. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela.

Here she finally stands next to Jørgen Watne Frydnes, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, with her Nobel Prize diploma and medal.

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I noticed many negative, uninformed and just stupid comments on the FB posts that I have read following these two postings. When some of them at least asked questions, like who is she? and why did she win? I do hope they make the effort to search for the answers!

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Did you see her speaking on the correct YouTube video? My link seemed to go elsewhere. But this goes to a newscast which includes her at the Prize Ceremony.

I must wonder if her win of the election and becoming Presidente' de Venuzuela in actuality might have changed the way the US (Trump and Hegseth particularly) are acting towards it today.

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'Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise,' they are all comprised in this one word, love."

and...

"Do all the good you can,

By all the means you can,

In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can,

At all the times you can,

To all the people you can,

As long as you ever can."

John Wesley, born 1703, father of Methodism.

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Angie Buchanan

6.24.22

"No more civility. No more being polite. No more trying to get along, no more attempts to understand a different point of view. No more tolerance. The filters are out, the gloves are off. I am feral, unhinged. I will not be legislated by your religious doctrine. I'm not even trying anymore, Your way hasn't worked. Let's try mine.

Art: Circe Invidiosa by John William Waterhouse In case you don't know the story - she's poisoning the waters - turning her offenders into monsters.

This witch don't mess around."

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These posts came about after the 2022 Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and started the domino effect of many states declaring abortions illegal. Women (and a lot of feminist men) were outraged. Some who were pregnant died.

The Goddess Kali in Tampaksiring Indonesia

Kali destroys those who are evil-doers, collects the garbage of humanity.