Is The “Forever Winter” Our Future?
Source: The Realist Review
by Chris Mott
“Thoughts on AI, nuclear weapons, and forever wars …” (01/08/26)
https://therealistreview.substack.com/p/is-the-forever-winter-our-future
Reasonably Optimistic, 01/07/26
Source: Washington Post
“How the internet changed politics — and our lives — forever.” (01/07/26)
The Trump Administration Says It’s Illegal To Record Videos of ICE. Here’s What the Law Says.
Source: Reason
by CJ Ciaramella
“The Trump administration believes you don’t have the right to record Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in public. This stance is both factually wrong and an attempt to chill free speech by conflating it with violence. … Recording government agents is one of the few tools citizens have to hold state power accountable. Any attempt to redefine observation as ‘violence’ is not only unconstitutional — it’s authoritarian gaslighting. When a government fears cameras more than crimes, it isn’t protecting the rule of law. It’s protecting itself.” (for publication 02/26)
https://reason.com/2026/01/08/you-have-the-right-to-record-ice/
Donald Trump’s Degenerate Plans for Greenland
Source: The American Prospect
by Ryan Cooper
“The president ordered a successful kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and he seems to be feeling his oats. After months of apparently forgetting about his deranged idea to conquer Greenland by force, it is now back under discussion, and Trump seems to be actually serious this time. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that ‘a range of options’ are under consideration, including ‘utilizing the U.S. military.’ Last summer, I spent over a month reporting on Greenland, including visiting its capital, Nuuk, for over a week, where I talked to all kinds of folks. When I asked about Trump’s annexation threats, the overwhelming reaction was bafflement. What on earth could the point possibly be? What could America possibly get from invasion and annexation that it does not already have? The answer on any grounds (morality, self-interest, national security, or plain common sense) is: nothing.” (01/08/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/01/08/donald-trump-greenland-venezuela-denmark/
Russia: Regime frees French political prisoner
Source: France 24 [French state media]
“Laurent Vinatier, a French researcher serving a three-year prison sentence in Russia for violating Moscow’s foreign agent laws, has been freed as part of a prisoner exchange, French and Russian officials said on Thursday. President Emmanuel Macron posted on X: ‘Our compatriot Laurent Vinatier is free and back in France. I share the relief felt by his family and loved ones.’ He added he was grateful for work done by French diplomatic officials. Russia’s FSB security service said Vinatier, 49, had been swapped for Daniil Kasatkin, a Russian basketball player who was arrested at a Paris airport last June and who was wanted in the United States for alleged involvement in ransomware attacks.” (01/08/26)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260108-russia-frees-french-researcher-laurent-vinatier
The Kyle Anzalone Show, 01/07/26
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Patrick Henningsen: Venezuela: America’s Next Disaster?” (01/07/26)
Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela: The Perpetual Fraud of the War on Drugs
Source: Antiwar.com
by Blair Graham
“After months of speculation, threats, and periodic bombings of Trinidadian fishermen, the Trump administration finally took direct military action against Venezuela, culminating in the kidnapping of the country’s sitting president Nicolas Maduro. The justifications for this action were eerily familiar. This extraordinary operation had nothing to do with seizing the assets of a country that, coincidentally, sits on the largest proven reserves of oil in the world. Instead, the White House Claims, this was an effort carried out with strict deference to American national security imperatives, for Maduro and his ‘illegitimate’ regime presided over one of the biggest drug-trafficking networks of any country on Earth, shipping industrial quantities of illegal narcotics to U.S. soil each year.” (01/08/26)
“The courts are dead.” An interview with a fired immigration judge
Source: The Watch
by Radley Balko
“George Pappas talks about how Trump ended due process for immigrants, and how to fight back. ‘The law has failed us,’ he says. ‘So now we have to turn to politics.'” (01/08/26)
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/the-courts-are-dead-an-interview
Brazil: Lula vetoes bill that could reduce Bolsonaro’s prison time
Source: SFGate
“Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday vetoed a bill that could reduce the 27-year prison sentence of his predecessor Jair Bolsonaro for the far-right leader’s failed 2023 coup attempt. Lula, who had already pledged to block the proposal, announced the decision during a ceremony at the presidential palace in capital Brasilia. It came on the third anniversary of the riots led by Bolsonaro’s supporters that destroyed government buildings and helped build the case against the former president. The Senate passed the bill in December. Brazil’s Congress could override Lula’s veto, but analysts say that could be a risky move for lawmakers ahead of next October’s general elections. The 80-year-old leftist president is currently a frontrunner in a likely battle with Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, one of the former president’s sons.” (01/08/25)
https://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/brazil-s-lula-vetoes-bill-that-could-reduce-21283898.php
First State of the Union: George Washington’s Blueprint Betrayed
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Michael Boldin
“January 8, 1790. George Washington walked into the Senate Chamber of Federal Hall in New York City and delivered his first annual message to a joint session of Congress. Today, we call it the State of the Union. In his speech, Washington set the standard for how a president should act. From the clothes he wore to how he approached the separation of powers in the Constitution, to his support for an educated and armed people, ready to defend their own constitution and liberty. Once you read just what he said and did, it’s pretty obvious this blueprint has been betrayed for a long, long time.” (01/07/26)