Venezuela Live Updates: U.S. Forces Seize Two Tankers, One Under a Russian Flag  —  The U.S. military intercepted a Russian-flagged tanker as part of its pressure campaign against Venezuela, escalating a conflict with Moscow after ousting its ally, Nicolás Maduro.  —  Here's the latest.

Live updates: ICE says agent, ‘fearing for his life’, kills protester in south Minneapolis  —  11:50 a.m. |  ICE says agent, ‘fearing for his life’, kills protester  —  Federal authorities say an ICE agent, “fearing for his his life” killed a protester during a confrontation Wednesday in south Minneapolis.

Europe and Rest of World Try to Come to Terms With Trump the Imperialist  —  Needing U.S. support to fend off Russia in Ukraine, European leaders have been cautious about criticizing President Trump on Greenland, Iran, Venezuela and much else.  —  It had the makings of one of the most awkward trans-Atlantic meetings in a long time.

Trump says Venezuela will turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to US  —  Investing Oil & gas South America Donald Trump  —  President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that Venezuela will turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States …

Inside Democrats' plans to stop Trump from raiding more countries  —  House Democrats are scrambling for levers to block the Trump administration from reprising its Venezuelan incursion across Latin America and beyond. … - Democrats' plans include war powers votes, efforts to choke off funding …

Elon Musk's “Grok” is undressing women and showing them in swastika bikinis  —  One woman targeted is a Jewish Holocaust survivor  —  Grok, the chatbot run by the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) is generating nonconsensual pornographic images of women with their clothes removed …

The Military Isn't MAGA  —  The Uniform Code of Military Justice should not suppress free speech.  —  Mark Kelly will probably be fine.  The senator and Navy veteran isn't likely to be cowed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's lawless attempt to silence him by seeking to demote him post-retirement.

DOJ admits it has still not released 99% of Epstein files, violating law  —  The DOJ said it is still reviewing millions of Epstein files, after previously claiming it completed the review in July  —  In an extraordinary letter sent to a federal judge Monday evening, Attorney General Pam Bondi admitted …

Texas A&M Bans Plato  —  Drop the race and gender material from your course and the Plato readings, or teach a different course.  You have a day to decide.  —  That's a paraphrase of what Martin Peterson, professor of philosophy at Texas A&M University, was told by university officials today …

“They say that when you win the presidency you lose the midterm,” President Donald J. Trump said today to House Republicans.  “I wish you could explain to me what the hell is going on with the mind of the public because we have the right policy.  They don't.  They have a horrible policy.

After Removing Maduro, Trump Needs a New Venezuela Plan  —  Political pundits love black-and-white answers, but a realistic assessment of President Trump's actions in Venezuela is a shade of gray.  How dark or light that gray becomes will depend on Mr. Trump's future actions.

Trump administration tells 5 states their child care funds have been frozen  —  The Trump administration sent out letters Tuesday night to five blue states, freezing about $10 billion in funding for child care and social services programs pending a “thorough review,” citing concerns over “systemic fraud.”

Congress, the President, and the Use of Military Force in Venezuela  —  This is part of Just Security's Collection: U.S. Lethal Strikes on Suspected Drug Traffickers.  —  On Jan. 3, President Donald Trump ordered a military operation that bombed Venezuelan air defenses and other targets in the country …

We Need to Get Off the Defensive About Immigration … History is replete with times when an army in fighting retreat draws a line, digs in, and then counterattacks.  The Russians in WW2 took world-historic losses, before turning the tide with a massive counteroffensive around Stalingrad.

New Records Reveal the Mess RFK Jr. Left When He Dumped a Dead Bear in Central Park  —  Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he left a bear cub's corpse in Central Park in 2014 to “be fun.”  Records newly obtained by WIRED show what he left New York civil servants to clean up.  —  This story contains graphic imagery.

Judge orders Lindsey Halligan to explain why she's using U.S. attorney title  —  A federal judge ordered Trump ally Lindsey Halligan to explain why she's identifying herself as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia despite a court ruling that she was unlawfully appointed to the role.

‘Whata Bod’: An AI-generated NWS map invented fake towns in Idaho  —  Amid a big agency push to use AI models in weather prediction, an AI-generated forecast graphic with errors was pulled from NWS sites.  —  At first glance, there was nothing out of the ordinary about Saturday's wind forecast for Camas Prairie, Idaho.

Professor Fired for Charlie Kirk Post Gets $500,000 From School, Is Reinstated  —  Darren Michael, associate professor at Austin Peay State University, has reportedly been reinstated and given $500,000 after being fired over posts about assassinated conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

Life Under a Clicktatorship  —  What happens to government when everything is content?  —  One of the strangest moments to emerge from the U.S. kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro was the flurry of images posted by President Trump on Truth Social.  It felt a bit like a student who can't decide …

The Smart Money Is Turning Out to Be Green Money  —  Climate and money are too often divorced in our imaginations, the assumption being that you can't make money or properly run an economy and keep the climate from imploding at the same time.  People who actually handle money for a living could tell you otherwise.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting's patriotic goodbye  —  PN is supported by paid subscribers.  Become one ⬇️  —  🌈 Subscribe to PN 🌈  —  On Monday, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting shut itself down.  —  Defunded by Congress and fearing …

Gabbard MIA on Venezuela operation amid tensions over Trump policy  —  The director of national intelligence was conspicuously absent among Trump's top national security advisers during the planning for the Maduro mission.  —  President Donald Trump's top national security advisers …

Musician Béla Fleck is the latest to cancel Kennedy Center performances after Trump's renaming  —  The Grammy-winning banjo player said the venue had become too “political,” while the arts center chair accused him of caving to the “woke mob.”  —  Grammy-winning banjo player Béla Fleck …