TRUMP KIDNAPS MADURO IN ILLEGAL ATTACK

Top Stories for January 3:

US strikes Venezuela and says its leader has been captured and flown out of the country
Literally one day after telling reporters he wanted “peace” for 2026, Donald Trump launched an illegal attack on Venezuela in which President Maduro and his wife were kidnapped and multiple sites across the country were bombed, including military installations and the mausoleum of Hugo Chavez. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Maduro was being indicted for drug trafficking in the state of New York, which is ironic because Donald Trump pardoned a different Central American leader for drug trafficking not two months ago. The EU has signalled that it will meekly stand by and nod approvingly as Trump, Marco Rubio, and Stephen Miller trample roughshod over what little remains of the rules-based international order. The United States Congress was not informed of the illegal strikes. Trump is plunging America into yet another unprovoked war for control of oil resources while the economy tilts into recession and millions of people are kicked off their healthcare. “America First?” It’s “America Forgotten” in pursuit of Trump’s naked gangsterism. No country in the world is safe from the American mad dog and his fascist handlers.

Take Action: Tell Congress: Stop Trump’s illegal war in Venezuela!

Trump raises alarms with unhinged morning statement
Brian Tyler Cohen breaks down Trump’s bizarre tirade about his “PERFECT HEALTH” and how he “ACED” his cognitive tests in the wake of a damning WSJ report that revealed the president deliberately overdoses on aspirin every day and eats like a stoned frat boy.

Trump unleashes devastating hunger crisis on America’s children
The brutal, $200 million budget cuts to SNAP stuffed in Trump’s Big Awful Bill have endangered millions of children and families with hunger and food insecurity. 40 million Americans — nearly half of them children — rely on SNAP for food. It is nothing short of abject cruelty to yank that life-saving assistance away from them in the name of fiscal responsibility. Nonprofit organization No Kid Hungry is working around the clock to make sure that food banks across the country have the resources they need to step up and keep America’s kids fed. But with Trump’s cruel cuts to SNAP and his price-hiking tariffs, their resources are stretched thinner than ever before. Will you please make a donation to help feed America’s hungry children?

Trump and top Iranian officials exchange threats over protests roiling Iran
U.S. President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials exchanged dueling threats Friday as widening protests swept across parts of the Islamic Republic, further escalating tensions between the countries after America bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June. At least eight people have been killed so far in violence surrounding the demonstrations, which were sparked in part by the collapse of Iran’s rial currency but have increasingly seen crowds chanting anti-government slogans. Trump initially wrote on his Truth Social platform, warning Iran that if it “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.” “We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump wrote, without elaborating. Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker who serves as the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, alleged that Israel and the U.S. were stoking the demonstrations. “Trump should know that intervention by the U.S. in the domestic problem corresponds to chaos in the entire region and the destruction of the U.S. interests,” Larijani wrote on X, which the Iranian government blocks. “The people of the U.S. should know that Trump began the adventurism. They should take care of their own soldiers.”

Health subsidies expire, launching millions of Americans into 2026 with steep insurance hikes
Enhanced tax credits that have helped reduce the cost of health insurance for the vast majority of Affordable Care Act enrollees expired overnight, cementing higher health costs for millions of Americans at the start of the new year. Democrats forced a 43-day government shutdown over the issue. Moderate Republicans called for a solution to save their 2026 political aspirations. President Donald Trump floated a way out, only to back off after conservative backlash. In the end, no one’s efforts were enough to save the subsidies before their expiration date. A House vote expected in January could offer another chance, but success is far from guaranteed. The expired subsidies were first given to Affordable Care Act enrollees in 2021 as a temporary measure to help Americans get through the COVID-19 pandemic. Democrats in power at the time extended them, moving the expiration date to the start of 2026. With the expanded subsidies, some lower-income enrollees received health care with no premiums, and high earners paid no more than 8.5% of their income. Eligibility for middle-class earners was also expanded. On average, the more than 20 million subsidized enrollees in the Affordable Care Act program are seeing their premium costs rise by 114% in 2026, according to an analysis by the health care research nonprofit KFF.

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