During the night of Saturday, Jan 3, President Trump gave the go-ahead for a targeted attack on the illegally installed strongman of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and his even more radical wife—both residing in a secure home on a high security military base in Caracas. While the Trump raid was questionable in its legality, it is about the only thing that has gone right in Trump’s first attempt to deal with a far-Left nation in Latin America under the growing Chinese and Russian influence in our southern hemisphere. Every one of America’s enemies were duly impressed with the US military’s ability to penetrate Venezuela’s defenses and pull off this spectacular grab of a ruling dictator. No other country in the world could have put 150 types of aircraft into the air in a highly coordinated jamming and aerial attack that took out Venezuela’s Chinese-built radars, Russian air defenses and five military bases within minutes. Delta Force special operations helicopters carried their teams through the gauntlet in marginal weather at low altitude to land at Maduro’s secure location with such stealth and surprise that he and his wife were both captured before they could enter and close the door on their safe room. But despite the dramatic performance of this textbook use of combined arms to carry out the snatch of Maduro, it’s been downhill ever since as Trump bragged to the world that he would “run” Venezuela from Washington, and use the US military to further threaten half a dozen other mostly hostile nations into compliance. Even though most of the 8 million Venezuelan exiles in nearby countries rejoiced at seeing a dictator like Maduro overthrown, they are all too aware that it’s not safe to return to that country while it is still controlled by the rest of his broad cadre of communists. To receive a free, one-time sample of the Brief, along with options on how to subscribe, click on Request a sample on the left.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the U.S. central bank was served with grand jury subpoenas by the Department of Justice on Jan. 9. In a statement late Jan. 11, Powell confirmed that officials threatened a criminal indictment over his Senate Banking Committee testimony in June 2025. That testimony, Powell noted, “concerned in part a multi-year project to renovate historic Federal Reserve office buildings.”
Conflict between protesters and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers continued on Jan. 11 outside a federal building that the agency is using as a detention facility.
Trump warned that the United States “may have to act” before a potential meeting takes place because of the current situation in Iran, as the Iranian regime’s clampdown on protests has left hundreds dead.
rump on Sunday did raise the question of direct help to the protesters (who may not actually be interested in Washington's help). Trump said he will speak to Elon Musk about sending Starlink to protesters in Iran, following the government-imposed outage which has remained in place since Thursday.
Military commanders in the Middle East want more time to prepare for Iranian counterattacks
Italian authorities are attempting to force the internet service provider Cloudflare to delete and block certain online services. Cloudflare is resisting and has turned to the U.S. government for support.
How were these migrants from a third world country able to successfully establish so many front businesses and siphon billions of dollars in taxpayer funds? They had help from Democrat officials according to whistleblowers. This would explain why investigations into migrant racketeering consistently fizzled and why Democrat appointed judges dismissed multiple fraud cases involving Somalis.
Leftwing agitators in Minneapolis on Thursday set up a short-lived “autonomous zone” that spanned several blocks in the southeastern part of the city, and reportedly declared it a “no-go zone” for law enforcement. The city however removed the barricades surrounding it overnight to allow residents and first responders access to the area.
President Trump plans to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado next week during her planned visit to the United States. This development comes despite his earlier reluctance to back her for the country's top leadership role.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins warned Minnesota’s Democrat leaders on Friday their “handouts to thieves” are at an end, her announcement coming amid news about rampant fraud in the state.
Washington :The U.S. Government and Lockheed Martin have announced a landmark agreement to dramatically expand manufacturing of the PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) interceptor, an advanced component of the Patriot Air And Missile Defense System. The new framework aims to increase annual production from approximately 600 interceptors to 2,000 per year over a seven-year period, a move officials say will strengthen U.S. and allied defenses amid rising global threats.
“I was elected as a Democratic socialist and I will govern as a Democratic socialist.” That was the new mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, in his inaugural address, where he made headlines by going with a speech that made him sound like the caricature of an Ayn Rand villain.
The Department of Justice notified New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani that anti-white discrimination would not be tolerated, following publication of past controversial statements by his top housing aide.
The comments come after the UK and France signed a letter of intent to send members of their armed forces to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal to guard against any potential future aggression from Moscow.
Among these targets outlined in a presidential memorandum, 31 entities are tied to the United Nations.
Shortly after the ICE-involved shooting that left one woman dead, multiple videos of the incident went viral on X. In at least one video, she appears to be blocking the street with her vehicle in an attempt to impede ICE agents and is later shot and killed after advancing toward one of the agents. Numerous angles of the incident are circulating on X, offering competing narratives.
President Donald Trump is asking the state of Georgia to reimburse $6.26 million in attorney fees and costs he incurred defending against his now-dismissed election interference case in the state.
On Thursday the demonstrations have disrupted life in the capital in a big way, and there are reports of nationwide internet and cellular outages. Anti-government slogans and calls to "rise up" have been observed in Tehran and elsewhere, and in some places supporters of exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi have actually heeded his repeat public calls to take to the streets (though this 'pro-Shah' contingent likely only remains an extreme minority at this stage).
The legislation - which was introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), was cosponsored by Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Adam Schiff (R-CA) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
“For decades, decades, under both Republicans and Democrats, federal incentives have promoted low-quality, highly-processed foods, and pharmaceutical interventions instead of prevention,” Rollins said. “As a result, nutrient-dense whole foods grown by America’s farmers and ranchers have been increasingly displaced. The Trump administration is acutely aware of this danger, and today this announcement is making a major step in doing something about it.”
The message is simple: eat real food. To Make America Healthy Again, we must return to the basics. American households must prioritize diets built on whole, nutrient-dense foods—protein, dairy, vegetables, fruits, healthy fats, and whole grains. Paired with a dramatic reduction in highly processed foods laden with refined carbohydrates, added sugars, excess sodium, unhealthy fats, and chemical additives
The M/V Bella 1, a Russian-flagged oil tanker, was seized in the Atlantic Ocean, officials say.
Federal agents and officers were going door to door at businesses in the area suspected of being involved in illegal hiring and fraud, Lyons said.
Gordon Chang, an analyst on China, said Greenland has taken center stage because the Arctic has become important. “And China and Russia are seeking to control the Arctic.” Greenland’s officials have rebuffed United States acquisition desires with the autonomous territory’s leader, Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, posting on Facebook on Dec. 22, 2025: “We have woken up again to a new announcement from the U.S. president. This may sound big, but it does not change anything for us. We decide our own future.”
Yu said neither Chinese nor Russian air-defense systems “made the slightest bit of difference” once the United States brought real-time intelligence, electronic warfare, and precision weapons to bear. The real contest, he said, wasn’t just radar range or missile specs, but a fast chain of detection, communications, decision-making, and joint execution—exactly where weaker militaries tend to break.
The changes stem from reviewing practices in other nations, including consulting experts in Denmark, Germany, and Japan.
The former Venezuelan leader and his wife have been indicted on charges related to narco-terrorism.
‘I’ve decided to step out of the race and let others worry about the election while I focus on the work,’ Walz stated.
What started as an economic protest has turned into demonstrators chanting the name of opposition figure Reza Pahlavi, Iran’s crown prince.
Ship tracking services detected around a dozen ships identified as loaded oil tankers departing from Venezuela in the first week of 2026, all of them targeted by U.S. sanctions. Several of the tankers allegedly sailed in “dark mode,” presumably with the blessing of Venezuelan officials, meaning their satellite tracking devices were switched off to conceal their movements.