January 6, 2026

Claudia Ciobanu & Stefanie Dazio of the AP: “Several European leaders pushed back Tuesday on ... Donald Trump’s comments about seeking an American takeover of Greenland. The leaders issued a statement reaffirming the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island 'belongs to its people.' The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom joined Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in defending Greenland’s sovereignty in the wake of Trump’s comments about Greenland, which is a self-governing territory of the kingdom of Denmark and thus part of the NATO military alliance.... Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also expressed his support and announced a visit to Greenland early next month by Canada’s Governor General Mary Simon, who is of Inuk descent, and Foreign Minister Anita Anand.”

Luke Broadwater & Dylan Freedman of the New York Times: “Over the past year..., [Donald Trump has engaged in a steady campaign to rewrite the history of Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, when his supporters, believing lies of a rigged election, smashed windows and doors and assaulted law enforcement officers.... On Tuesday, the five-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack, Mr. Trump was again seeding doubt about the integrity of American elections. 'Our elections are crooked as hell,' Mr. Trump told congressional Republicans.... Mr. Trump said Republicans needed to retain control of the House because he expected to face a third impeachment trial if Democrats won. He said he would not call for this year’s election to be canceled because critics would accuse him of being a dictator.... Also on Tuesday, the Trump administration created a new page on the White House website attempting to rewrite the history of the riot, blaming congressional Democrats and former Vice President Mike Pence for standing up to falsehoods about the 2020 election and allowing it to be certified.... 

“It was the latest turn in a year in which Mr. Trump has attempted to rewrite election rules, take control of state and local election systems and offered support to those who promote election conspiracy theories.... A New York Times review of Mr. Trump’s public statements found more than 150 instances in the past year in which he falsely claimed he had won the 2020 election, portrayed Jan. 6 rioters as victims and denigrated investigators of the Capitol riot.” ~~~

~~~ Sean James of Mediaite: “...  Donald Trump’s White House launched a website dedicated to the January 6 Capitol Riot on Tuesday that said the Democrats 'staged the real insurrection' and claimed Capitol Police escalated the mayhem.... The key section of the website blames Democrats — and specifically, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — for making the riot into a much bigger deal than it actually was. It also falsely claimed that the Democrats rigged the 2020 election before asserting that they led a witch hunt against Trump and his supporters in the aftermath of the riot.”

Emily Brooks of the Hill: “Republican Rep. Doug LaMalfa, who represented a Northern California district, has died at 65 years old. He represented California’s 1st Congressional District since 2013, previously serving in the California state Assembly and Senate." ~~~

     ~~~ Victor Mather & Kellen Browning of the New York Times: “Mr. LaMalfa’s death diminished the Republicans’ narrow majority in the House, to 218-213, with four vacancies.” 

Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: “George T. Conway III spent most of his adult life as a Republican, and until just a few weeks ago, he was living full time in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. But as Mr. Conway, a former conservative lawyer turned leading critic of ... [Donald] Trump, sees it, extreme times call for extreme measures. So he moved to Manhattan, registered as a Democrat for the first time, and on Tuesday, he jumped without apology into the primary race for a coveted open House seat in one of New York City’s bluest districts. 'We have a criminal president who is basically running the government like a mob operation,' Mr. Conway said in an interview before declaring his candidacy. 'We need people to come in who are willing to call that out, and people with special skills.'”

Presidential Dance News:  

Nothing like making fun of our one severely disabled president for not being able to dance: ~~~

~~~ Sean James of Mediaite: “... Donald Trump ... on Tuesday morning ... [said] his wife Melania Trump 'hates' when he does his famous 'YMCA' dance.... He then gritted his teeth as he continued his impression of the First Lady... “‘Darling, it’s not presidential.." She actually said, “Could you imagine FDR dancing?." She said that to me,' he recalled. Trump ... took a few seconds to span [scan??] the crowd [of members of the House] with a 'Can you believe it?' look on his face. Several people in the audience were laughing at the comment. 'And I said, “There’s a long history that perhaps she doesn’t know,'” Trump said with a grin. That drew some more laughs. Of course, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt could not dance because he had polio.” ~~~

~~~ Marie: The big debate during the past couple of days has been over the reason Trump attacked Venezuela and kidnapped its leader. The real reason, it turns out, is that Trump was jealous of el presidente's dance moves. Yeah, I'm getting this from a comedian, so you're likely to think this is a joke. Unfortunately, it's both a joke AND true. Thanks to RAS for the link: ~~~

~~~~~~~~~~ 

New York Times Editors (Dec. 31, 2025): “It was a day that should live in infamy. Instead, it was the day ... [Donald] Trump’s second term began to take shape. Five years ago, on Jan. 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, hoping to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. After the sun set that day, Congress reconvened to certify Joe Biden’s victory. The rioters lost, and so did Mr. Trump, who had summoned them to Washington and urged them to march to the Capitol. The Trump era seemed to have ended in one of the most disgracefully anti-American acts in the nation’s history.... [Instead,] it was a turning point toward a version of Mr. Trump who is even more lawless than the one who governed the country in his first term.... The shocking part of the story was the response of so many other people in government, media and business.... [This taught Trump] that he could get away with more than he dared to try in his first term.... Tragically, America is still living in a political era that began on Jan. 6, 2021.... The damage to the nation is severe.” ~~~

~~~ Heather Cox Richardson reminds us to remember January 6, 2021. And so, in his way, does Jack Smith. Andrew Weissmann urges us to listen to at least the first hour of his deposition testimony, released by Jim Jordan's House Judiciary Committee on New Year's Eve & embedded here on New Year's Day. ~~~

~~~ Lisa Mascaro of the AP: “ Approaching the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the official plaque honoring the police who defended democracy that day is nowhere to be found. It’s not on display at the Capitol, as is required by law. Its whereabouts aren’t publicly known, though it’s believed to be in storage. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has yet to formally unveil the plaque. And the Trump administration’s Department of Justice is seeking to dismiss a police officers’ lawsuit asking that it be displayed as intended. The Architect of the Capitol, which was responsible for obtaining and displaying the plaque, said in light of the federal litigation, it cannot comment. Determined to preserve the nation’s history, some 100 members of Congress, mostly Democrats, have taken it upon themselves to memorialize the moment. For months, they’ve mounted poster board-style replicas of the Jan. 6 plaque outside their office doors, resulting in a Capitol complex awash with makeshift remembrances.”

     ~~~ Ha ha. Thanks to RAS for the lead.  

Kristen Welker & Jonathan Allen of NBC News: "In the roughly 20-minute interview [with NBC News], [Donald] Trump identified a group of U.S. officials — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller and Vice President JD Vance — who will help oversee America’s involvement in Venezuela. 'It's a group of all. They have all expertise, different expertise,' he said. But he had a one-word answer for who is ultimately in charge: 'Me.'... Venezuela will not have new elections [immediately]..., Trump said in an interview with NBC News on Monday.... 'We have to fix the country first. You can’t have an election...,' Trump said about the possibility of a vote in the next month. 'No, it’s going to take a period of time. We have — we have to nurse the country back to health.'... He said the U.S. may subsidize an effort by oil companies to rebuild the country's energy infrastructure — a project he said could take less than 18 months.... 'A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us or through revenue.' 

"He also insisted the U.S. is not at war with Venezuela.... He indicated that the U.S. could launch a second military incursion into Venezuela if Rodríguez stops cooperating with U.S. officials but said he does not believe that will be necessary.... 'We’re prepared to do it,' he said. 'We anticipated doing it, actually.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Jacob Wendler of Politico: “His comments echoed remarks to the press aboard Air Force One Sunday night, when he said: 'If they don’t behave, we will do a second strike.'... U.S. officials have made at least three demands of [Delcy] Rodriguez, telling the Maduro ally that they expect her to crack down on drug flows, kick out operatives of countries or networks hostile to the U.S., and stop selling oil to U.S. adversaries, two people familiar told Politico....” 

Nahal Toosi, et al., of Politico: “The Trump administration is demanding that Venezuela’s interim leader take several pro-U.S. actions that her predecessor refused if she wants to avoid a similar fate. U.S. officials have told Delcy Rodriguez that they want to see at least three moves from her: cracking down on drug flows; kicking out Iranian, Cuban and other operatives of countries or networks hostile to Washington; and stopping the sale of oil to U.S. adversaries.... U.S. officials also expect Rodriguez — the former vice president now running Venezuela — to eventually facilitate free elections and step aside, the two people said. But the deadlines for the demands are fluid, and U.S. officials stress there are no elections imminent.” 

Anton Troianovski of the New York Times: “Mr. Trump’s stunning assault on Venezuela has ushered in new uncertainty around the globe, with allies and adversaries alike scrambling to reckon with a superpower ready to use force in the service of a transactional, might-makes-right foreign policy. For the two countries long seen as America’s chief adversaries, Russia and China, that uncertainty is tinged with opportunity, foreign policy analysts said.... So far, China and Russia have condemned the U.S. attack on Venezuela, but they have not threatened to defend their ally. At an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Monday, Russia and China demanded the release of Mr. Maduro and his wife, and called for a halt to any further military action by the United States.... The restraint was striking given the investment in Mr. Maduro’s rule by both China and Russia.... Both countries are aware that the consequences of antagonizing Mr. Trump can be severe, while the advantages of flattering him appear significant.”

Farnaz Fassihi of the New York Times: “The United States was condemned at an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Monday for what even its staunch allies called a violation of international law in the capture of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and the military incursion into a sovereign state. The deputy French ambassador denounced the assault and Mr. Maduro’s apprehension, saying it 'chips away at the very foundation of international order.' The U.N.’s top official, Secretary General António Guterres, said the Trump administration had violated the U.N. charter. Colombia’s ambassador said it was reminiscent of bygone eras of American interference in the region and that the United States was undermining 'international peace and security.'... Several countries said the action in Venezuela was a violation of the charter, including U.S. allies Bahrain, Brazil and Mexico.

“Two European allies, Britain and Latvia, seemed to be more cautious.... The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. [Mike Waltz] defended his country’s ouster of Mr. Maduro, saying Monday that there was 'no war against Venezuela or its people' and called Mr. Maduro a narcotics fugitive not a head of state. 'We are not occupying a country. This was a law enforcement operation,' ... [Mr.] Waltz said during the council’s emergency meeting.”

Tyler Pager, et al., of the New York Times: “Even before the lightning-quick U.S. raid on Venezuela’s capital..., [Donald] Trump had ... [decided not to throw] his support behind María Corina Machado, the opposition leader who led a successful election campaign against Mr. Maduro in 2024 and had the greatest popular legitimacy to lead the nation. Behind the scenes, Mr. Trump came to his conclusion based on several crucial factors, including U.S. intelligence that suggested the opposition would have trouble leading the government, and a souring relationship between Ms. Machado and top Trump officials.... For Ms. Machado, Mr. Trump’s comments landed like a gut punch, and it represented a public break for the United States with a leader who had spent more than a year trying to ingratiate herself to Mr. Trump — so much so that when Ms. Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which he covets, she dedicated it to him.... For Mr. Trump, the focus in Venezuela is oil, not promoting democracy.” The link appears to be a gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Take this report -- like all reports that rely on insider information -- with a giant salt crystal or two. Clearly, Trump's PR team dictated much of it to the Times reporters. Overall, the report makes Trump sound like a rational actor following expert advice.

Paul Waldman in Public Notice: "For a man who spent a lifetime using showmanship to con people into believing things that aren’t true, Donald Trump has run an absolutely dreadful propaganda campaign in support of his latest foreign military adventure. Nothing about what just happened in Venezuela is clear — who is now running the country, what will happen from this point forward, or why we did it. We don’t even know what to call it. An invasion, a kidnapping, a coup, a takeover? Who knows? In the long run, it will probably turn out badly for the people of Venezuela and for US foreign policy interests, but it’s already a case study in incompetent public relations.... If you want a preview of how chaotic, self-contradictory, and ultimately futile the Venezuela policy will be, you have only to look at how inept the PR campaign has been."

⭐Chris Cameron of the New York Times: “Stephen Miller, a top aide to ... [Donald]  Trump, asserted on Monday that Greenland rightfully belonged to the United States and that the Trump administration could seize the semiautonomous Danish territory if it wanted. 'Nobody’s going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland,' Mr. Miller told Jake Tapper, the CNN host, after being asked repeatedly whether he would rule out using military force.... 'We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,' he said. 'These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.'... The United States’ taking Greenland by force would rip apart the central agreement that underpins the NATO military alliance, of which Denmark and the United States are both founding members. Under that treaty, an attack on any member is treated as an attack on all members. Mr. Trump has previously said he would not rule out using the military to take Greenland. Mr. Miller also echoed Mr. Trump’s intent to rule Venezuela and exploit its vast oil reserves after a U.S. raid seized President Nicolás Maduro and his wife from Caracas.... 'The United States of America is running Venezuela,' Mr. Miller said, dismissing international treaties enshrining a nation’s right to independence and sovereignty as 'international niceties.'” Update: I changed the link to a new link that looks like a gift link. ~~~

     ~~~ A Politico story is here. Video of Tapper's interview of Miller is here.

Marcy Wheeler has a great post on how the CIA has influenced Trump -- and Stephen Miller, who thinks Venezuela is an island. 

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: “Conservative Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Monday pointed the finger directly at his colleague, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), as the primary instigator behind ... [Donald] Trump’s surprise mission to send U.S. special operators into Caracas to seize Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Paul lamented what he sees as a reversal from Trump’s previous staunch opposition to nation-building and said Graham was a major factor in changing the president’s thinking on foreign policy.... Graham expressed his frustration last month when Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio told senators in a classified briefing that regime change in Venezuela was not an option the administration was considering. 'I want to know what’s going to happen next. Is it the policy to take Maduro down? It should be, if it’s not...,' Graham said after the briefing with Hegseth and Rubio.”

 

Nils Pratley, the Guardian's financial editor, lays out some reasons big oil is not anxious to return to Venezuela. ~~~

~~~ Julianna Bragg of Axios: "White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told Axios, 'All of our oil companies are ready and willing to make big investments in Venezuela that will rebuild their oil infrastructure, which was destroyed by the illegitimate Maduro regime.'" Right.

Ben Lefebvre, et al., of Politico: “... Donald Trump’s Cabinet officials are scheduling their first formal calls with oil company CEOs to press them to revive Venezuela’s flagging oil production.... Calls that Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are planning with chief executives represent some of the first official outreach that the administration has made to the U.S. companies after months of informal discussions with people in the sector, these people said — days after ... Donald Trump told reporters that 'our very large United States oil companies' will 'spend billions of dollars' in Venezuela. However, the companies’ executives remain wary of entering a socialist-ruled country that was plunged into political upheaval after U.S. forces took strongman Nicolás Maduro into custody over the weekend, following decades of neglect in its nationalized oil fields, according to market analysts and industry officials.” 

Anatoly Kurmanaev of the New York Times: “Venezuela could lose the bulk of its oil export revenues this year if the U.S. blockade stays in place, according to internal government estimates, a scenario that would set off a humanitarian crisis.” This looks like a gift link.

MEANWHILE, Out on the High Seas. Natasha Bertrand, et al., of CNN: “The US is making plans to try to intercept a fleeing oil tanker that Russia has claimed jurisdiction over..., setting up a possible confrontation between Washington and the Kremlin over the vessel’s fate. Originally called the Bella 1, the tanker was sanctioned by the US in 2024 for operating within a 'shadow fleet' of tankers transporting illicit oil. It was initially headed for Venezuela before turning around to avoid seizure by the US Coast Guard last month. The tanker was in the North Atlantic as of two days ago, heading northeast near the coast of the United Kingdom.... At some point while being pursued, the crew of the tanker painted a Russian flag on its hull and claimed it was sailing under Russian protection. Shortly thereafter, the vessel appeared on Russia’s official register of ships under a new name — the Marinera.”

Shayna Jacobs, et al., of the Washington Post: “Deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro made his first court appearance Monday and said he was 'kidnapped' by the U.S. government, assailing the Trump administration for capturing him and portraying himself as his country’s rightful leader. The brief court proceedings in downtown Manhattan offered the first public opportunity for Maduro to speak since he and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized by U.S. forces Saturday in Caracas.... The hearing, lasting just over 35 minutes, combined the familiar routine of an initial court appearance with the extraordinary sight of Maduro, who only days earlier had been a strongman wielding power over an entire nation, seated at a defense table, clad in jailhouse garb and following instructions from a judge.”

Hurubie Meko of the New York Times: “Nicolás Maduro, the deposed Venezuelan leader who pleaded not guilty to federal charges in a Manhattan courthouse on Monday, was insistent that he was not a common criminal defendant, but a 'prisoner of war.' Mr. Maduro was sending a pointed message: that the Special Forces raid on his compound in Venezuela on Saturday was not a law enforcement operation, as the Trump administration has argued, but a military action. Mr. Maduro has been charged with narco-terrorism and conspiring to import cocaine. On Monday, as he was being arraigned by the judge overseeing the case, Alvin K. Hellerstein, Mr. Maduro insisted that he is the president of Venezuela and said that he had been 'kidnapped.'... A prisoner of war is a legal combatant — including members of the armed forces, militia or volunteer corps — who is captured and detained in a conflict. They do not face trials merely for being members of a hostile force.... 

“In Manhattan, if a federal defendant is not afforded bail, he is held at the troubled Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn while awaiting trial. The conditions at the lockup have been so grave that a judge in 2024 refused to send a man convicted in a drug case there while awaiting sentencing. Mr. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are among about 1,300 people being held in the hulking facility, according to the facility’s website, and their cases could take years to work through the courts.” Meko describes other requirements of the Geneva Conventions for detaining prisoners of war.

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: “Despite early appearances, the Trump administration’s abduction of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela doesn’t seem to be a regime change operation. After all, America is leaving the regime, now headed by Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, in power.... For Donald Trump, the preservation of something close to the status quo makes sense, given that his goal is extortion, not political transformation. Rather than the moralistic imperialism of George W. Bush, Trump’s foreign policy is imperialistic gangsterism.... John Feeley, a career diplomat and former ambassador to Panama who resigned in protest during Trump’s first term, said that to understand what’s unfolding in Venezuela, look to the mob, not traditional foreign policy doctrines. 'When Donald Trump says, “We’re going to run the place,” I want you to think of the Gambino family taking over the Colombo family’s business out in Queens,' he said. 'They don’t actually go out and run it. They just get an envelope.' 

“Trump wants a few things in that envelope, chiefly access to Venezuela’s oil reserves, the largest in the world; less migration from Venezuela; and the country’s acceptance of more deportees from America. At least in the short term, he may well get them.... Trump has often said that America is done being the world’s policeman. Mission accomplished: It’s now a mafia instead.”

Ben Rhodes in a New York Times op-ed:  “... we must learn from America’s 21st-century wars. They have tended to begin with the cinematic removal of an odious adversary: the routing of the Taliban by Special Forces ... in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks; the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue symbolizing the end of his regime; Muammar el-Qaddafi hiding from a mob in a drainpipe. In each case, the moment of regime change was the high point: Nearly all that followed ran counter to the plans of politicians, military leaders and national security elites (in the case of Libya, me included).... We must learn from our long history in Latin America.... Interventions ... usually ended badly for the people of countries left with repressive right-wing governments, civil wars or rampant criminality.... We have an autocratic leader seeking power and aggrandizement through the conquest of territory and resources.... History shows us where that leads.” 

Amelia Nierenberg & Maya Tekeli of the New York Times: “Denmark’s prime minister said on Monday that ... [Donald] Trump 'should be taken seriously when he says he wants Greenland,' a day after Mr. Trump repeated his threats — following the U.S. military raid on Venezuela — to also take the semiautonomous Danish territory. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark made her comments in an interview with DR, the Danish broadcaster, calling his threats 'unacceptable pressure.' 'If the United States were to choose to attack another NATO country, then everything would come to an end,' she said in another interview, with Live News, a Danish news channel, adding, 'The international community as we know it, democratic rules of the game, NATO, the world’s strongest defensive alliance — all of that would collapse if one NATO country chose to attack another.'”

In case you still don't think the Trump administration is the most horrible gang of reckless, anti-American thugs in the history of the nation, there's this: ~~~ 

Greg Jaffe of the New York Times: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military had started administrative actions against Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona, that could result in a reduction in his retirement rank and military pension. In November, Mr. Kelly and five other Democratic lawmakers who served in the military or the intelligence community released a video reminding their still-serving counterparts that they were obligated to refuse illegal orders. In a social media message issued on Monday, Mr. Hegseth called the video 'seditious' and criticized Mr. Kelly for a 'pattern of reckless misconduct' aimed at undermining good order and discipline in the ranks. Mr. Kelly and his lawyers ... noted that Mr. Hegseth had made similar statements in the past.... Mr. Hegseth also issued a “formal Letter of Censure” that will be entered into Mr. Kelly’s permanent personnel file. ” ~~~

     ~~~ Alexander Bolton of the Hill: “Two high-profile Republican senators warned Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Monday against reducing Sen. Mark Kelly’s (D-Ariz.) military rank or pension as punishment for filming a video with several other Democratic lawmakers urging service members not to follow unlawful orders. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has jurisdiction over the Pentagon’s budget as chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, said it’s not 'appropriate' to target Kelly’s retired rank or pension because of the video urging members of the military to defy orders they view as unlawful.... Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) called the Pentagon’s censure of Kelly 'ridiculous,' even though he strongly criticized the Democrats’ video urging service members to ignore orders they view as unjust or illegal.” MB: Aw, c'mon. Collins is “concerned” about everything and Tillis is a lame duck.

~~~ ⭐And This. Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: “Federal health officials on Monday announced dramatic revisions to the slate of vaccines recommended for American children, reducing the number of diseases prevented by routine shots to 11 from 17.... The announcement represents a momentous shift in federal vaccine policy, and perhaps the most significant change yet in public health practice by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, who has long sought to reduce the number of shots American children receive. The states, not the federal government, have the authority to mandate vaccinations. But recommendations from the C.D.C. greatly influence state regulations. Mr. Kennedy and his appointees have made other alterations to the childhood vaccination schedule, but those have had smaller impact. The new schedule circumvents the detailed and methodical evidence-based process that has underpinned vaccine recommendations in the nation for decades.” ~~~

     ~~~ Lena Sun & Paige Cunningham of the Washington Post: “These are the vaccines no longer broadly recommended to children.” ~~~ 

~~~ And This. Minho Kim of the New York Times: “The Trump administration plans to freeze $10 billion in funding for child care subsidies, social services and cash support for low-income families in five states controlled by Democrats, claiming widespread fraud throughout those states, without citing evidence, after a major welfare fraud scheme in one of them. Minnesota, New York, California, Illinois and Colorado will be cut off from around $7 billion in funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance to households with children.... The five states will also lose access to nearly $2.4 billion for the Child Care Development Fund, which supports child care for working parents, and around $870 million for social services grants that mostly benefit children at risk, the people said.... The planned freeze appears to build on the administration’s pause last week in $185 million in annual aid to Minnesota day care centers after investigators said that more than a dozen welfare fraud schemes in that state had led to billions of dollars in taxpayer losses.”

Daniella Diaz & Ursula Perano of NOTUS: “Senate Democrats unanimously backed Secretary of State Marco Rubio for confirmation last year. But in the wake of military action in Venezuela, they might be having buyer’s remorse. Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Rubio has 'had a full MAGA-lobotomy.... He essentially does what Donald Trump wants him to do.... He has a little bit of the Dear Leader syndrome.' 'We’re in a constitutional crisis, in my opinion,' Sen. Cory Booker told NOTUS on Monday. 'And it’s something that Marco, when he was in the Senate, wouldn’t have stood for.'” 

Zach Montague of the New York Times: “A federal appeals court ruled on Monday that the Trump administration could not make drastic cuts to the federal funding supporting much of the country’s medical and scientific research, reaffirming a lower court’s ruling from early last year. In a unanimous decision, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit found that one of the Trump administration’s earliest attempts to kneecap universities, through proposed reductions to grants from the National Institutes of Health, was unlawful.... Three separate coalitions of universities, medical organizations and Democratic-led states filed suit in February, arguing that the possible setbacks to research institutions in their states could be insurmountable, and that many institutions lacked the financial reserves to cover the shortfall.”

~~~ Benjamin Mullin of the New York Times: “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funded NPR, PBS and hundreds of local radio and TV stations across the United States for more than a half-century, said on Monday that its board of directors had voted to dissolve the organization because Congress cut off its federal money. The vote formalized plans announced last year to wind down operations after lawmakers voted to strip more than $500 million in annual funding from the organization. Executives have been emptying the corporation’s coffers in recent months by making grants to public media organizations.... The end of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, founded in 1968, begins a new era in public media, with local stations across the United States fighting for survival. Donations from listeners are up, and philanthropists have stepped in, but the long-term future of public TV and radio is far from certain.”

Oh, the Rich Get Richer & the Poor Get Poorer. Neal Boudette of the New York Times: “The auto industry has evaded a slump largely because affluent Americans with well-paying jobs and robust savings have continued to buy new cars at a decent clip. And they are more than making up for the cars that lower-income Americans are no longer buying. Families with a household income of $150,000 a year or more now buy 43 percent of the new cars sold in the country, up from one-third of all cars sold in 2019 before the Covid-19 pandemic.... Households with incomes less than $75,000 are buying about a quarter of vehicles sold, down from more than a third in 2019.... New car sales are expected to dip in 2026 but not by much.”  

~~~~~~~~~~ 

Maryland. Katie Mettler of the Washington Post: “In 2025, [Baltimore Mayor Brandon] Scott said, the number of people killed in the Maryland city once notorious for its crime had plummeted to a nearly 50-year low of 133 deaths — marking the third straight year of steep declines in the homicide rate and a nearly 60 percent decrease since 2021.... When he was elected in 2020, the mayor declared gun violence a public health crisis, creating a five-year comprehensive plan to address the root problems and vowing to lower homicides by 15 percent annually — a lofty goal in a city often ranked among the most deadly in the nation.... Much credit has been given to the city’s Group Violence Reduction Strategy (GVRS), a core tenet of the mayor’s philosophy to root out violence by using data and police intelligence to identify those at highest risk of shooting someone or getting shot. Then, the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (MONSE) deploys social service support through city employees and trusted community organizers to try to keep that violence from happening.” 

Minnesota. Megan Lebowitz, et al., of NBC News: "Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a statement Monday that he is ending his re-election bid and will not seek a third term. Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, cited heightened attention on fraud allegations in Minnesota, adding that 'the political gamesmanship we’re seeing from Republicans is only making that fight harder to win.... As I reflected on this moment with my family and my team over the holidays, I came to the conclusion that I can’t give a political campaign my all.'..." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Tyler Pager, et al., of the New York Times: “Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota said on Monday that he was abandoning his bid for re-election to a third term. And Senator Amy Klobuchar, a fellow Democrat, is considering seeking the office, two people briefed on conversations between the politicians said. Mr. Walz and Ms. Klobuchar met on Sunday in Minnesota, where he informed her of his plans and she confirmed her interest in running to succeed him.”