GOP senators seek to rein in Trump amid concerns over military escalation in Venezuela

 https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5682429-trump-venezuela-foreign-policy-clash/

Several Senate Republicans are seeking to rein in President Trump’s plans for Venezuela amid concerns that the president may deploy thousands of U.S. troops to South America.

“We’ve seen things escalate,” Murkowski said. “I’ve [been] in classified briefs where it has been unscored to me, ‘Nope, there was never an intention to do anything other than to intercept these drugs,’ because that’s what the mission was. And when you ask questions about, ‘Well, was this about regime change?’ ‘No.’ ‘Is this going to bring military assets into the country?’ ‘No.’ And yet here we are.”

Republican senators applauded Trump’s successful nighttime raid to seize Maduro, but they are alarmed by the president’s willingness to put “boots on the ground” in Venezuela and his declaration that the United States could run the country for years.

Learning from Experience

 I'm reading "1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History--and How It Shattered a Nation" by Andrew Ross Sorkin and wanted to share this quote with you.

"The ordinary human being does not live long enough to draw any substantial benefit from his own experience. And no one, it seems, can benefit by the experiences of others. Being both a father and teacher, I know we can teach our children nothing…Each must learn its lesson anew. —Albert Einstein, October 26, 1929"

Start reading this book for free: https://a.co/6CKxsgZ

Historic Mississippi Synagogue Torched in Arson Attack, Suspect Arrested

 https://www.newsweek.com/historic-mississippi-synagogue-torched-in-arson-attack-suspect-arrested-11342545

The attack on Beth Israel Congregation—Mississippi's largest synagogue and Jackson's only one—comes amid escalating antisemitic incidents nationwide and targets the same house of worship the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) bombed in 1967 because the rabbi supported civil rights, the Associated Press reported. The deliberate nature of the attack has heightened concerns about religious violence, particularly as Jewish congregations in Pittsburgh, the San Diego area, and Colleyville, Texas, have faced attacks in recent years.

Ultra-Orthodox children are being left to poverty and lawlessness

 Ultra-Orthodox children are being left to poverty and lawlessness

Ultra-Orthodox leaders are blamed for deepening poverty among large families and encouraging reckless protests that endanger children, raising questions about how parents surrendered responsibility for their children’s education and lives, with deadly consequences

Mississippi’s largest synagogue severely damaged in suspected arson attack

https://www.timesofisrael.com/mississippis-largest-synagogue-severely-damaged-in-suspected-arson-attack/

 Mississippi’s largest synagogue was heavily damaged Saturday morning in a predawn fire that local authorities believe was caused by arson, though investigators did not immediately say whether they suspected it was a hate crime.

The Jackson Fire Department, along with the FBI and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, arrested a suspect who they believe caused the fire intentionally, according to local media. The suspect’s name and the allegations against them were not immediately released.

The synagogue’s library and administrative offices were destroyed in the fire, as were two Torah scrolls stored in the library. The main sanctuary was not damaged, and the Torahs there were later removed for safekeeping. A Torah rescued from the Holocaust and stored in a glass case was not damaged.

"Trump LOSES IT as MASSIVE PROTESTS SPREAD…WORLDWIDE!!!"

Trump LOSES IT after FOX host CALLS him OUT over DEADLY SHOOTING

Trump World MELTS DOWN After MN ICE Agent IDENTITY Is EXPOSED

This is getting really ugly

"‘Blatantly lying about basic facts’: House Dem rips Trump, Vance for their framing of ICE shooting

🚨Denmark Delivers FATAL WARNING to TRUMP after THREATS

Iran threatens to hit Israel if US intervenes; Israel said to be on high alert

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-january-11-2026/

Iran warns US President Donald Trump that any US attack would lead to Tehran striking back against Israel and regional US military bases as “legitimate targets,” Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf tells parliament.

Israel is on high alert for the possibility of a US intervention to support a nationwide anti-regime protest movement in Iran, sources say.

The ‘Putinization’ of US foreign policy has arrived in Venezuela

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jan/03/putin-russia-us-foreign-policy-venezuela

Trump is no longer bending the rules – he is demolishing them, with consequences far beyond Caracas

Trump’s belief in his own global omnipotence, and his desire to grab the territory and natural resources of other countries has been held in check until now by his fear of entanglement in foreign wars. He claimed (falsely) to have ended eight wars, and his greatest ambition in 2025 seemed to be winning the Nobel peace prize. Less than a month ago he was brandishing a hastily confected substitute, the Fifa peace prize. That act of self-abasement by world football’s governing body looks even more absurd now than it did when Trump grabbed the gold medal and put it around his own neck.

The international laws and norms Trump has barged through had already been loosened by previous US administrations. The operation most closely resembles the 1989 invasion of Panama and forced surrender of its strongman, by the first Bush administration.

In his press conference on Saturday, Trump added Cuba to the list of countries in his sights, suggesting it was “very similar” to Venezuela “in the sense that we want to help the people in Cuba”. His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, added that Havana should feel “concerned” in the wake of the events in Venezuela.

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. One US commentator, David Rothkopf, called it the “Putinization of US foreign policy”.

Judge blocks Trump administration from freezing $10B in child care funds

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2026/01/10/trump-childcare-funds-minnesota-california/

The temporary order will keep aid flowing to five Democratic-led states for 14 days as a lawsuit against the government moves ahead.

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from freezing about $10 billion in federal funds for child care grants and family assistance earmarked for five Democratic-led states over what it had said were concerns around fraud.