Just as the Nazis successfully rewrote the history of their failed putsch, so Trump is feverishly recrafting the history of Jan 6, using all the levers of power to do so. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Giving new meaning to the term "decency." A comic proceeding, start to finish. In sum: nearly everything that the protagonists say about one another is true. www.ft.com/content/2a91...

Tour the Galleria Borghese with Jackie Wullschläger. This is fabulous. www.ft.com/content/2a07...

Years of supine obeisance to the US leaves Europeans clueless about what to do when the US threatens military assaults against them. Vladimir Putin's plan is being played perfectly. www.ft.com/content/c1c8...

With living standards in the Islamic republic falling to historic lows in recent months, this sense of desperation has now burst on to the streets—spiralling into the biggest round of protests in Iran in several years. But while most large protest movements over the past two decades have been built

It's called paying tribute. Microsoft and McKinsey are among the US companies paying up to $1mn each to sponsor a Davos venue that will serve as a base for US government officials during President Donald Trump’s trip to the World Economic Forum later this month. www.ft.com/content/97e2...

Trump threatens Mexico and says Cuban regime will fall after capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. In the meantime, we learn that Hegseth has already been commissioned to prepare detailed plans for extensive US military operations on Mexican soil, without Mexican approval.

Ed Luce: Greenland and Denmark now begin preparations to repel an American military invasion. www.ft.com/content/21f3...

For years, Black women have sounded the alarm about digital manipulation. X’s new policies prove how right they were. Elon Musk has turned Twitter into a machine for the mass dissemination of porn and Russian disinformation. www.essence.com/news/money-c...

Researchers are targeting dormant tumour cells that might explain why some cancers reappear long after successful treatment go.nature.com/3NgcKDT

How Elon Musk is aggressively promoting pornography on Twitter, notwithstanding the EU's efforts to block it (which he labels "censorship of American free speech"). www.the-independent.com/tech/grok-ai...

Dreams of empire and constant territorial expansion are essential characteristics of fascism, then and now

Masha Gessen: Why did Putin probably rejoice at the loss of his ally Maduro? Because Trump trampled all over the international law that made Putin's invasion of Ukraine an act of blatant aggression. Trump has implicitly accepted Putin's grand bargain: you get Venezuela and Greenland, I get Ukraine.

Though Louisiana does rank first in some things: venereal disease and illiteracy, for instance. Its social network is closer to that of Venezuela than California or New York.

The Monroe Doctrine was about preventing European recolonization of newly independent Latin American states and promoting their sovereignty. The Donroe Doctrine is about raw natural resource imperialism, the worst of he various forms of colonialism.

The Western United States just had its warmest December in recorded history, and likely the warmest in many thousands of years.

Finnish children learn media literacy at 3 years old. It's protection against Russian propaganda. Conversely, Trump disbanded all efforts to identify and black Russian disinformation campaigns and is actually bolstering and promoting them.

Gen Paul Eaton: Trump and his defense secretary Pete Hegseth are mounting an aggressive push to politicize the top ranks of the US military–a push that smacks of Stalinism and could take years to repair, the former infantry chief who trained troops to invade Iraq warns.

Leo was picked by the Conclave to be the anti-Trump. And he's stepping up to the role. He is calling out Trump's moral depravity unflinchingly and for the most part undiplomatically. www.independent.co.uk/voices/pope-...

Journalists… can show their patriotism by doing their jobs of seeking the truth, no matter who it offends. They can serve the public by reporting honestly and deeply on what their government is up to—and why” Margaret Sullivan remind us that the current holder of his chair is no Walter Cronkite.

Gen Mark Hertling discusses our cokehead "secretary of war" and his attacks on Sen Mark Kelly, an American hero.

NATO minus the US issues a statement about Trump's territorial aspirations against Denmark

Marco Rubio's proclamation of raw imperialism.

"The large oil companies’ lack of an immediate appetite to make new investments in Venezuela could be a significant blow to the Trump administration’s attempt to overhaul the country’s government, said Dan Pickering, chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners." www.wsj.com/business/ene...

It's all about seizing their oil, part 2,373:

What an embarrassment

Lying to the American people and to American courts is just what real presidents do, and we strongly approve... writes Jeff Bezos' English editors at WaPo. This paper becomes more farcical with each passing day.

Copy edit? I'm not so sure. I think they mean just what they say.

Florida man has been arrested after authorities accuse him of trespassing on a construction site while concealing a gun beneath a pair of silicone prosthetic breasts and a lacy red bra. www.the-independent.com/news/world/a...

From the NYC Bar, a comprehensive statement about the illegality—on many levels, constitutional, national and international—of Trump's actions in Venezuela, coupled with an appeal to Congress to act clearly and decisively. www.nycbar.org/press-releas...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Glenn Greenwald

Time to switch your hotel brand loyalty to Hilton

Trump's techbro buddies now exercise complete control over the bulk of US media; and Trump delivered control of much of it to them.

Donald Trump wants Venezuela’s oil—all of it. But getting it out of the ground could take years and at least $100bn in investment, as The Economist's commodities editor, Matthieu Favas, explains. Find out why oil companies will be wary of getting involved in the president's plan: econ.st/4sp4EsM

DOJ now tells a federal judge that it has reviewed and released 0.83% of the Epstein files—that's right, less than 1%—and even those have been improperly redacted so heavily as to make most of them senseless.

Trump is suddenly obsessed with stealing Russian oil on the high seas, too—The US is making plans to try to intercept a fleeing oil tanker that Russia has claimed ownership of, according to four people familiar with the matter, setting up a possible confrontation between Washington and the Kremlin…

From Bernie, a very solid statement. Nothing like this from Schumer or Jeffries, who continue to spend all their time talking about increased healthcare insurance premiums.

Almost 82 million barrels [of crude oil] is currently on tankers in waters off China and Malaysia. More than a quarter is Venezuelan and the rest is Iranian. Today Marco Rubio announced that the US intends simply to steal it.

Jesse Watters: Denmark can sell Greenland to us, or we'll just take it. Venezuela shows the way.

Oliver Darcy: In an attempt to convey supposed transparency, the Pentagon told me that Pete Hegseth has granted anonymous background interviews on Venezuela to some "mainstream media outlets"—all while the Trump admin trashes anonymous sourcing