Free Republic

Jan 3 (Reuters) - Venezuela will resist the presence of foreign troops, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said in a video early on Saturday, as U.S. President Donald Trump said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had been captured and was being removed from the country. A U.S. attack on the country in the early morning struck civilian areas, Padrino said, and Venezuela is compiling information about dead and injured people.

“Today begins a new era,” declared Zohran Mamdani upon his swearing in yesterday as New York City’s 112th mayor. “Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed. But never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try.” Inaugural ceremonies aren’t usually a forum for deep deliberation and rational discourse. But a new leader’s words are rarely disconnected from his underlying philosophy. Mamdani’s inaugural comments therefore give us an idea of what to expect: claiming to represent “all” New Yorkers, the new mayor will work quickly to push through decisions unpopular at best, and...

Unfazed by the scandal in Minnesota, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) is now proposing an even grander program for her state, saying "the biggest problem with what went on in Minnesota is that it was too narrowly focused on needy families. Starting with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's plan for universal government-provided daycare for all children--poor and rich alike--we will make this benefit an entitlement for all. Ideally, the government should pay for everyone's needs while each individual contributes taxes according to their abilities." The initial estimate of the cost to fund Mamdani's vision is said to be $6 billion....

Colombia has deployed new troops along its border with Venezuela following a night of US strikes in the Bolivarian Republic. Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced last night on X.com that military forces are being deployed along the border as a response to the potential consequences of the U.S. military operation a few hours ago. On the night of Friday 2nd to Saturday 3rd, the U.S. carried massive strikes on military bases inside Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, covering a special operation that reportedly led to the capture of contested president Nicolas Maduro and his wife. The Venezuelan leader was wanted...

Iran, Colombia, Hezbollah, and Russia condemned the military operation performed by the United States in Venezuela on Saturday, where US special forces troops captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, while major US allies like Germany, Spain, and Italy said they were following the situation closely. Iran, an ally of Venezuela, said that the military attack on Venezuela was "a blatant violation of its national sovereignty and territorial integrity." Hezbollah stated that it "condemns the terrorist aggression and American thuggery against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela" and "further affirms its full solidarity with Venezuela - its people, presidency, and...

Congratulations to the Trump administration on finally ending the Chavez-Maduro regime that has impoverished Venezuela and turned that country into a prison. So what happens next? Pam Bondi says Maduro will “will soon face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts.” I hope the administration has thought this through carefully. As I understand it, Maduro was indicted several years ago in the Southern District of New York. I don’t know what rules govern venue in a case of this kind, nor do I know whether it is feasible to bring a new set of charges...

Russia is offering stark criticism of the U.S. military attack on Venezuela, which resulted in the capture of President Nicolas Maduro. In response, Russia called for a full meeting of the United Nations Security Council. “This morning, the United States carried out an act of armed aggression against Venezuela. This causes deep concern and condemnation,” Russia said in a statement from its Foreign Ministry. “The pretexts cited to justify such actions are unfounded. Ideologized hostility has prevailed over practical pragmatism and over a willingness to build relations based on trust and predictability,” Russian officials wrote, nearly five years into the...

President Donald Trump has just won a major victory in a war that has been waged against the United States for decades, without any significant response from the American side. Trump made the announcement at 4:21 a.m. EST on Saturday morning, Jan. 3, 2026: The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement. Details to follow. There will be a News Conference today at...

CHRISTMAS BIBLE-ART EPISODE #21 of 33 OUCH!!! JESUS IS CIRCUMCISED G E N E S I S CHAPTER 17 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be THE SIGN OF THE COVENANT BETWEEN ME AND YOU. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old...

"President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. military carried out a "large-scale strike" in Venezuela early Saturday morning and took Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife into custody." -President Donald Trump announced that Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife have been captured and flown out of the country after the U.S. carried out a "large scale strike." Trump is expected to address the nation at 11 a.m. ET from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. -The U.S. military has carried out a series of strikes on suspected drug vessels allegedly tied to the Venezuelan regime in the Caribbean Sea...

Saturday 3 January 2026 3 JanuarySainte Genevieve Roman Catholic Church, in Sainte Genevieve, Missouri, USAReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(II).First reading1 John 2:29-3:6Everyone must try to be as pure as ChristYou know that God is righteous –then you must recognise that everyone whose life is righteoushas been begotten by him.Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us,by letting us be called God’s children;and that is what we are.Because the world refused to acknowledge him,therefore it does not acknowledge us.My dear people, we are already the children of Godbut what we are to be in the...

Welcome to the techno-feudal state, where citizens are forced to underwrite unnecessary and harmful technology at the expense of the technology they actually need. The economic story of 2025 is the government-driven build-out of hyperscale AI data centers — sold as innovation, justified as national strategy, and pursued in service of cloud-based chatbot slop and expanded surveillance. This build-out is consuming land, food, water, and energy at enormous scale. As Energy Secretary Chris Wright bluntly put it, “It takes massive amounts of electricity to generate intelligence. The more energy invested, the more intelligence produced.” That framing ignores what is being...

Smith believes the government can prosecute any of us for rejecting official ‘truths.’ Jack Smith, the special prosecutor who attempted to put President Trump in prison for acknowledging that the 2020 election was tainted by fraud, testified before the House Judiciary Committee the week before Christmas. Here are the video and transcript of his deposition. Smith’s testimony is disturbing because his argument in favor of prosecuting the president boils down to this: (1) Every sensible person knows that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. (2) For President Trump to pretend otherwise reveals that he is knowingly telling a “lie.” (3)...

Netflix’s attempt to acquire Warner Bros. has set off alarms about market power and cultural reach. But the real issue isn’t this potential merger, which Paramount is challenging. It’s the extent to which the industry has consolidated so dramatically that a small circle of companies now exercises unprecedented control over cultural production and distribution. Nearly everything Americans watch is shaped by a handful of firms that not only dominate the market but broadly share the same progressive ideological assumptions. Netflix is not the outlier. Consolidation is increasingly the industry model in media and entertainment.

An abandoned box of NYPD uniforms was found in Borough Park on Tuesday. Police say a 911 call led them to the discovery around 8:30 p.m. Officers found pants, shirts, jackets and hats, officials say. The items were taken to the 66th Precinct for safekeeping.

Venezuelans celebrate after US President Donald Trump announced that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country. President Trump offered and advance warning to Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro months before the US captured him and his wife. “He doesn’t want to f--k around with the United States," the president said in an October press conference. The Official White House Rapid Response account resurfaced the clip Saturday morning -- just hours after handing down a litany of charges against the embattled dictator and his wife.

TEMPERANCE, Mich. – Several grass roots champions and rookies of the year will make their first laps at Daytona International Speedway during the ARCA Menards Series “Road to Daytona” program at the series’ annual pre-race practice on Jan. 9-10. Drivers from the ARCA Menards Series East and West, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, NASCAR Weekly Series, ASA CRA Super Series, ASA Midwest Tour, and ASA Southern Super Series will make laps in cars prepared by 1995 ARCA Menards Series national champion (Indiana) Andy Hillenburg’s Fast Track High Performance Racing Team with support from Ilmor, Hoosier Tire, Sunoco, Eibach Springs, and JRI...

Every year in politics brings its share of curveballs, black swan events, and moments no one saw coming. But politics is also shaped by deeper forces that take months or even years to fully come into view. As 2026 approaches, the contours of the biggest debates, battles, and storylines are already forming. While surprises are inevitable, these are the major political questions and trends that could define the year ahead — and potentially reshape American politics for decades to come. Can Republicans defy history and win the midterms?This is the central political question of 2026, and virtually every other debate...

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