Source: Karl Dickey’s Freedom Vanguard
by Karl Dickey
“I am not sure if you caught Zohran Mamdani’s swearing in ceremony and his speech as he became New York City’s new mayor, but it was an eye opener for sure. I am going to leave his notion that the collective is better than the individual comment aside as I want to focus on a gesture he did during the event, that was precisely the same as Elon Musk made during a similar event almost a year ago. Yet, the mainstream media has taken two dramatically different views to create a false narrative that the public happily ate up.” (01/02/26)
https://palmbeachexaminer.substack.com/p/musk-vs-mamdani-unmasking-the-medias
Source: Fox News
by Jonathan Turley
“In an extraordinary military operation, the United States launched a large-scale military operation in Caracas, Venezuela, early Saturday, with Special Forces seizing President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. There is a pending 2020 indictment of Maduro in the Southern District of New York, where he is expected to be taken to face prosecution. The operation comes not long after the 37th anniversary of the capture of Manuel Antonio Noriega on Dec. 20, 1989. Noriega was convicted of drug and money laundering offenses and sentenced to 40 years in prison. He was tried in Miami. Maduro was indicted in a four-count superseding indictment …” (01/03/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/jonathan-turley-why-capture-maduro-didnt-require-approval-from-congress
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“Public prosecutors in Switzerland have opened a criminal investigation into the managers of the bar in Switzerland’s Crans Montana, where at least 40 people died in a fire. Two days after the fire, in which 119 people suffered injuries, including severe burns, officials were still trying to identify many of those killed. Attention has also turned to how one of Switzerland’s worst tragedies could have occurred. The bar’s two managers are suspected of offences including homicide by negligence, causing bodily harm by negligence and arson by negligence, prosecutors in Valais, the canton that is home to the bar in the upscale ski resort of Crans-Montana, said in a statement on Saturday. They did not name the pair.” (01/03/26)
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/3/swiss-launch-criminal-investigation-over-deadly-fire-at-ski-resort-bar
Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“The last thing that protesters in Iran need are threats of intervention from the U.S. government. The last thing that the U.S. needs is another conflict in the Middle East. The U.S. is not helping anything in Iran by threatening to attack the country. It is a reckless threat, and it puts the U.S. and Iran on yet another unnecessary collision course.” (01/02/26)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/trumps-threat-to-rescue-iranian-protesters
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
“In the face of an effort to impeach her and remove her from the bench, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan announced she is resigning. The announcement came on Jan. 3, weeks after a federal jury found Dugan guilty of obstructing federal immigration agents seeking to [abduct an immigrant] outside her courtroom. Dugan was found not guilty of concealing a wanted person, which is a misdemeanor.” (01/03/26)
https://archive.is/iJr2G
Source: Libertarian Institute
“Did Ukraine Try to Kill Putin?” (01/02/26)
https://libertarianinstitute.org/blog/the-kyle-anzalone-show-did-ukraine-try-to-kill-putin
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
“Newly inaugurated New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani promises to ‘replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.’ Funny that he chose those words. In Europe, where collectivist anti-fossil-fuels ‘green’ policies have been enacted in the name of combating a conjured-up climate emergency, many people get dangerously cold in the winter. So far, this hasn’t happened on a large scale in America, where the climate collectivists have not been as adept in imposing their lethal program as their European counterparts. Freer markets keep people warmer in winter.” (01/02/26)
https://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2026/01/tgif-warm-individualism-or-cold.html
Source: BBC News [UK State Media]
“A Kenyan elephant believed to have been one of Africa’s largest male tuskers has died of old age. The pachyderm, fondly known as Craig, died of natural causes on Saturday morning at Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya, conservationists confirmed. ‘Craig had just turned 54 years old. He led a long life and no doubt fathered many calves,’ said the Amboseli Trust for Elephants in its farewell message. Famed for his long tusks, Craig the elephant was a major attraction at the park near the Tanzanian border. In 2021, he was named an ambassador for the popular Kenyan lager brand Tusker – a name also used for adult male elephants with tusks. The Kenya Wildlife Service described Craig as an ‘icon’ of successful conservation.” (01/03/25)
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8e5k7p5222o
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Jennifer Kavanagh
“There is a right way and a dumb way to show US support for the island. China’s moves since the announcement indicates which is which.” (01/02/26)
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/taiwan-china-us/
Source: The American Prospect
by Harold Meyerson
“I do not mean this as a negative assessment when I say that what Zohran Mamdani’s inaugural address as mayor of New York reminded me most of was Woody Allen’s Manhattan (albeit with a more all-encompassing view of the city. Like Manhattan, Mamdani’s speech was a love-besotted tour of New York) though with a focus on the city’s multiracial working and middle class you can’t find anywhere in the Allen oeuvre. For Mamdani, this focus was intended to be a means of identification and reassurance (I am one of you, I know you), legitimacy (I represent all of you), and commitment (I will fight for you all). It was a homeboy speech. A local, not an express, was stopping at every other street corner to celebrate the halal carts and the delis.” (01/02/25)
https://prospect.org/2026/01/02/enter-stage-left-mayor-mamdani/
