January 4, 2026 open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

We’re suing. This administration says it's concerned about student achievement and attendance, so why terminate a program that boosts both? www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

“It’s like modern-day slavery.” Former models for Donald Trump’s agency say they violated immigration rules and worked illegally.

The White House would like us to forget this, but we will not.

Literally a publication for eight-year olds 40 years ago

The Epstein Files Transparency Act is a law, passed by Congress on November 19 with an overwhelming vote. Complying with it was not optional. The Department of Justice did not comply. I want to make sure this is very clear.

People being like, "But Venezuelans are happy about Maduro being gone!" have the memories of goldfish. IN 2003, the narrative was that Iraqis celebrated the U.S. invasion and capture of Saddam. Whether they were happy or not, invading Iraq was still the wrong thing to do.

Seems important

I’m just a little surprised that Rubio didn’t say “vibes.”

Trump is weak at home, and he can be stopped – so long as the domestic political logic of foreign intervention is recognized and turned against him. This act of war is about regime change in the United States. It only succeeds if Americans allow it to do so.

Gift link--required reading: share.inquirer.com/jguOth

Your activism will be even more important this year. Here are 10 crucial things you can do in 2026. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/what-you-can-do-in-2026

A poet once wrote of small men who measured their lives in “coffee spoons.” But, all of us as Americans living in the modern era, can just as easily measure ours by the number of oil wars we have lived through.

Trump is weak at home, and he can be stopped – so long as the domestic political logic of foreign intervention is recognized and turned against him. This act of war is about regime change in the United States. It only succeeds if Americans allow it to do so. snyder.substack.com/p/venezuela-...

"If Trump is now taking ownership of what happens inside Venezuela, the real test won’t be whether the first wave succeeded. It will be whether the United States can define—and exit—an end state that Venezuela and the region will accept."

Trump campaigned on an “America First” platform. Now he wants to "run" Venezuela? 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Health care is collapsing. Housing is unaffordable. Trump should address these major crises at home and end his illegal military adventurism abroad.

Given supply dynamics and trajectories, I think control of Venezuela's actual oil is less relevant than the message sent to other countries hosting US oil majors. If national govts threaten their operations by demanding remediation/payment of liabilities, they now have to contemplate invasion.

The ethical and legal damage will be with us forever but it’s the raging incompetence that will strike first, within the next few days.

Presidential power is the great constitutional issue of 2025. This epic power grab has not gone unchallenged. We recap this year's defining challenges and the response by courts, advocates, and the public. bit.ly/3Y72AYH

Even this wasn’t planned out and if this wasn’t then nothing was.

This post should be the lede on every front page today or news broadcast… and yet it won’t be.

Sad. Those who think this operation was about the illegal capture of Maduro rather than a massive armed robbery by the US of Ven oil are either not paying attention or consciously regurgitating admin spin. The reality: Giving him a pass on this only invites more disasters.

"this operation was ...a massive armed robbery on a scale seldom not seen in the world since Trump’s role model Putin began trying to seize Ukraine and Ukrainian assets by force." Some welcome clarity from @djrothkopf.bsky.social about this hot mess Trump & co have created in Venezuela.

The dumbest possible version of this group of ghouls.

I know it’s exhausting. I know you’re sick to death of Trump. I am, too. But as he revealed yesterday, there is no limit to what Trump will do to assert his power. Your activism, courage, and attention are needed now more than ever. https://robertreich.substack.com/p/sunday-thought-the-looting

From the wife of the deputy White House chief of staff. Our NATO ally Denmark needs to worry that Greenland could be the next target of the “Dunroe Doctrine.”

During Fiona Hill's testimony to Congress on Oct 14, 2019, she described how Trump and Putin discussed exchanging Ukraine for Venezuela. The quid pro quo was if Trump refuses to help Ukraine fight off a Russian invasion, Putin would not help Venezuela (a Russian ally) resist a US takeover.

The President is relying on the same legal theory for attacking Venezuela as he is for deploying US troops in American cities. Let that sink in.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the overpayment rate for the food stamp program in Minnesota is one-third less than the national average www.wsj.com/opinion/minn... Maybe the right's star journalist, Nick Shirley, can figure out what Walz and MN are doing right.

Incredible stuff, no notes

"It is virtually certain that this Venezuela operation will turn into a big mess with a heaping side order of corruption. But it is also pretty clear that one of those giant errors can lead to further screw ups and even disasters."

If ever there were a time you might want a separate but equal branch of the United States government to run a check on the president, it would be now ….

The recurring US national security dilemma since 1945 has been the difficulty of translating tactical military successes into strategic ones. In the case of Venezuela, Trump is likely to learn the same lessons about the limits of U.S. military power that his predecessors learned. on.cfr.org/4pm6EiQ

It accelerates the slide from a mostly rules-based world to one of competing spheres of influence, to be determined by armed might and the readiness to use it. What @djrothkopf.bsky.social calls the “Putinization of US foreign policy”

From @djrothkopf.bsky.social "But there were aspects to Saturday’s news conference that were so weird, off-putting and likely to have unpleasant unintended consequences that they are worth noting. To begin with, the guys at the front of the room.." open.substack.com/pub/davidrot...

"There were plenty of similarities [with the Baghdad bombing]. Two Republican administrations took action while answering to higher powers in the fossil fuels industry. Media outlets hyperventilated about the drama... Here we are once again 'making the world safe' for obscene oil company profits."

Ms. Machado had “gone out of her way to please [Trump], calling him a ‘champion of freedom,’ mimicking his talking points on election fraud in the United States and even dedicating her Peace Prize to him. “It was in vain.” @nytimes.com 🇻🇪 www.nytimes.com/2026/01/04/w...

This is a good summary. Worth the read. From @djrothkopf.bsky.social davidrothkopf.substack.com/p/the-fafo-b...

One for today. Again @djrothkopf.bsky.social says it plain. open.substack.com/pub/davidrot...

History’s ultimate verdict on Trump’s military operation will be based on the fate of post-Maduro Venezuela, and the U.S., despite what Trump said about running the country, has only limited leverage to determine its fate. wapo.st/495KWuH

Well this is awkward 😬

Tawdry, wannabe loooooosers (🎶 fingers and 🎶thumb in the shape of an L on forehead 🎶) 💯 Where doesTrump’s “Donroe Doctrine,” his formula for U.S. “domination” of the Americas- stop? Colombia? Mexico? Cuba?Panama? Greenland? News flash- it doesn’t. His sick addled mind has no limits.