Senate Votes Against Trump on Venezuela - The Friday AM Quickie 1/9/26
Don't miss the video of 50-odd sheep invading a German supermarket. Whitney's baa'aack Monday, I'm off! - Corey
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THE BIG NEWS
As Trump Claims Unlimited Power to Conquer the World, Senate Taps Brakes on His Venezuela War
After a year of letting the dotard despot Donald Trump do whatever he wants, Congress is showing signs of life as a coequal branch of government. The Washington Post, Politico, and HuffPost report that a series of unfavorable votes for Trump shows that the Republican caucus he has long commanded now shows a willingness to defect on major issues that are a priority for his regime.
"We're seeing a lot more independence," New Mexico Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich tells HuffPost. "For years, there was just a complete unwillingness for independent thought from members of his party. But we are seeing a lot more of that now, people are thinking about their own constituents in their own states and how this is viewed."
The biggest loss for Trump yesterday came when the Senate voted 52-47 to advance a bipartisan bill to block further military action in Venezuela. The vote was a major shift for the Senate GOP, which blocked four previous war powers resolutions related to Venezuela and Latin American waters. Trump reacted with fury, writing on Truth Social that "Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers."
Separately, in an interview yesterday with the New York Times, Trump said his war powers were limited by "one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me." Oookaayyy, I suppose we'll see about that. Hopefully before he can invade Greenland.
Any Congressional check on Trump's imperial ambitions may come too late for ordinary Venezuelans, who, the Washington Post reports, are suffering under America's "economic pressure campaign" and attempt to rule the country colonial-style from Washington, DC. "I think famine is a real possibility now in Venezuela. But it's a large country with porous borders. And, usually before people starve, they try to leave," says Francisco Rodríguez, who studies the Venezuelan economy at the University of Denver.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports, Venezuela's interior minister Diosdado Cabello raised the death toll from the US military operation that abducted President Nicolás Maduro to 100. At least two, the Times confirmed, were civilians, including an 80-year-old woman, Rosa Elena González, who was pinned under debris during the American bombing.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
The Clampdown: Border Patrol Shoots Man and Woman in Portland, Oregon
- Oregon Democratic Attorney General Dan Rayfield Will Investigate Shooting The victims, who survived, were on the grounds of a hospital in the early afternoon when the Border Patrol agent shot them, wounding the man at the wheel, who drove two miles away before finally being arrested. via the Oregonian and Willamette Week.
- 'Portland Stands with You,' Mayor Keith Wilson Tells Minneapolis as Protests Build in Both Cities Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, meanwhile, warned that the Trump regime "is launching a full scale coverup," adding that "Nobody is above the law. Federal agents who break the law in Minnesota, Oregon or anywhere else, must be prosecuted." via Oregon Public Broadcasting, the Oregonian, and Minnesota Reformer.
- 'Trump Is Lying to You,' Says Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey "The chaos that ICE and the Trump administration have brought to Minneapolis made this tragedy sadly predictable," Frey writes. "In mid-December, ICE agents were filmed dragging a pregnant woman through the street. Heavily armed agents have been deployed to arrest lone individuals in public libraries and malls. Even in the aftermath of this week’s shooting, ICE agents continued to spread chaos, apparently deploying chemical agents at a local public high school." via the New York Times, Willamette Week, and HuffPost.
- Loathsome Vice Bootlicker JD Vance Calls Renee Nicole Good's Death 'a Tragedy of Her Own Making and a Tragedy of the Far Left' Vance also claimed the ICE agent who killed Good was "a federal official with absolute immunity." via the AP, Minnesota Reformer, and HuffPost.
- Forensic Analyses of Video Evidence Disprove Regime Lies About Renee Nicole Good Killing The ICE agent who stepped in front of Good's vehicle before shooting her three times was identified as Jonathan Ross. via the New York Times, the Washington Post, the AP, and NBC News.
- FBI Shuts Out State and Local Authorities from Minneapolis Shooting Investigation While Minnesota authorities warned of a federal coverup of a state-sanctioned murder, Homeland Security figurehead Kristi Noem urged the public to buy lunch for ICE agents in their communities. via the AP, HuffPost, and The American Prospect.
- Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz Denounces ICE at Schools; Urges Peaceful Protest; Readies National Guard "They want a show, we can't give it to them," the former Democratic vice presidential candidate said, warning against blocking highways, starting fires, or vandalizing property. via Sahan Journal, the AP, and the Minnesota Star Tribune.
- Democrats Threaten ICE Funding "Anyone who is an ancestor of a Holocaust survivor will tell you, this is how it starts," New Jersey state Sen. Britnee Timberlake, who sponsored a bill to restrict the use of state and local resources in federal immigration operations. via the Guardian, Politico, and The American Prospect.
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- Iranian Authorities Turn Off the Internet as Protests Escalate Amnesty International says the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the police "have unlawfully used rifles, shotguns loaded with metal pellets, water cannon, tear gas and beatings to disperse, intimidate and punish largely peaceful protesters." via the New York Times and NBC News.
- House Passes Bill to Restore Affordable Care Act Subsidies Seventeen Republicans joined the entire Democratic caucus to pass the bill 230-196. via the Washington Post and the Associated Press.
- Ukraine Awards Lithium Mining Concession to Billionaire Trump Pal The winning consortium "includes Ronald S. Lauder, a cosmetics heir who has known [Donald] Trump since college and planted the idea in his mind of buying resource-rich Greenland." via the New York Times, NBC News, and the Associated Press.
- New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Backs Zohran Mamdani's Plan to Expand Free Child Care Meanwhile, a coalition of five Democratic-led states announced a lawsuit against the Trump regime, which has blocked $10 billion in cuts to child care and family support programs. via the City, the New York Times, and HuffPost.
SOME NUMBER
$200 billion
That's how much Donald Trump has ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to spend on mortgage-backed bonds, which the New York Times notes "was one investment strategy that got the two firms in trouble in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis." Even if it doesn't lead to another crisis, one real estate economist tells the Associated Press that Trump's attempt to lower mortgage rates "is putting a Band-Aid on a deeper issue."
ON THE SHOW TODAY
1/9: Happy Friday! Sam and Emma will be in studio; the guest will be Jeet Heer, national affairs correspondent at The Nation, on to wrap the week's news.
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
Bongino Panics as His Fans Turn on Him
Mission accomplished!
What Real Leadership Looks Like...
Eye on the ball.
PARTING WORDS
"It's an abomination. It's a tattoo on the People's House. It would be a scar for all time."
-- Jon Golinger, democracy advocate at Public Citizen, speaking to the Washington Post at a protest the group helped organize against Donald Trump's White House ballroom boondoggle. Architect Shalom Baranes told the National Capital Planning Commission yesterday that construction on the project will take years, and will include a West Wing expansion to create "symmetry" to the complex; Trump tells the New York Times that he wants to add a second level on top of the West Wing colonnade.
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