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One indicator of a polity’s health is whether a citizen can be punished merely for telling the truth about the law. The signs for American democracy are not good.
President Donald Trump’s fans like to cheer on his most audacious moves by declaring, “I voted for this.” It is safe to assume, though, that very few people who pulled the lever for Trump in 2024 expected that he would soon announce that he had seized control over Venezuela. One of Trump’s most popular qualities has always been his supposed opposition to foreign wars, his anti-imperialist isolationism. Yet J. D.
Hours before President Donald Trump announced Nicolás Maduro’s capture, on Saturday morning, people had questions for Grok, Elon Musk’s chatbot. Footage was circulating on X of explosions in Venezuela, and some users assumed the United States was responsible: “Hey @grok why is Trump sending US airstrikes to bomb Venezuela. Do you think they deserve it or not ?”one person asked. “@grok what is the reason why America is bombing Venezuela,” another asked.
This is to be expected.
Federal officials say the U.S. schedule should be more in line with recommendations in other countries. Public health experts say the goal belies differences between health systems and disease prevalence.
Democracy Now! discusses the attack on Venezuela with two Venezuelan American scholars: Alejandro Velasco, an associate history professor at New York University, and Miguel Tinker Salas, emeritus professor of history at Pomona College. The professors react to President Trump’s comments on the presence of oil in the region and claims that Venezuela had “stolen” oil from U.S. companies.
The Trump administration did not seek congressional authorization prior to attacking Venezuela, as is required by the Constitution. It also violated “probably the first principle of international law … that countries have to respect their neighbors, and they can’t simply invade a neighbor or any other sovereign nation because they don’t like the way they are running things there,” says law professor David Cole.
U.S. forces attacked Venezuela and abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a Saturday night raid. About 80 people were reportedly killed, including 32 Cubans. Democracy Now! speaks with Andreína Chávez, a Venezuelan reporter based in Caracas, who calls the strikes an “imperialist attack.” Trump also said the U.S. would take the oil from Venezuela, which has the world’s largest proven reserves.
2025 was an interesting year for US stock markets and global dealmaking.
Rating the spiciness and truthiness of the hottest takes we heard in 2025.
Mary Childs learned about how places like ALIMA and Givewell are moving forward now that USAID is done.
Trump Media & Technology Group has merged with a nuclear fusion company TAE Technologies.
Even state governments that want to help can’t completely cover rising insurance premiums.
Montana and California will receive near equal amounts in 2026, despite their massive size disparity.
Despite a Trump administration push, there are few facilities offering the complex treatment in the rural areas where many patients live.
Outward’s hosts sit down with the host and co-creator of When We All Get to Heaven.
The neighborhood changes, the church moves, people forget and remember “the AIDS years,” but AIDS isn’t over.
The AIDS cocktail opens new possibilities. And MCC San Francisco tries to use the experience of AIDS to make bigger social change.
The church’s minister gets sick and everyone knows it.
The church’s “it couple” faces AIDS, caregiving, and loss as part of a pair, part of families, and part of a community.
The vice president fine-tunes Trump’s economic message, but he’s only got so much wiggle room.
Voters who backed Donald Trump in 2024 and swung to Democrats in this year’s Virginia and New Jersey elections did so over economic concerns, according to focus groups conducted by a Democratic pollster and obtained by POLITICO.
In races across the country, Democrats focused on promises to make life more affordable — even as they offered contrasting approaches.
The White House plans to make affordability a key selling point for Republicans across the board as the 2026 midterm elections come into focus.
President Donald Trump will give a speech in Northeastern Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the first stop in a ‘tour’ where he will talk about affordability concerns, among others.
Zohran Mamdani hailed “a new era” for New York on Thursday, promising in his inaugural address to deliver on the ambitious agenda that electrified progressives in the city and saw him defeat the political establishment in both the Democratic primary and the general election last year. Addressing thousands of supporters who braved freezing temperatures to attend the ceremony at City Hall, Mamdani vowed to “govern expansively and audaciously” for residents.
“We have chosen courage over fear. We have chosen prosperity for the many over spoils for the few,” said Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in her introduction to the historic inauguration of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor.
Tens of thousands of New Yorkers braved freezing temperatures and police barricades to be part of Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration as mayor on New Year’s Day. Democracy Now! spoke with many Mamdani supporters, including a high school student and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, about what the day represented to them, their hopes for the new administration and how it could set a model for progressives across the country.
New York City started 2026 with a new mayor, as democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani made history when he was sworn in as the city’s first Muslim, first South Asian and first African-born leader, as well as the youngest in over a century.
Now that the United States has snatched Nicolás Maduro from his presidential compound, there are questions to ask about Venezuela: Will this lead to a return to democratic order in the country, a new dictatorship, or mere chaos? There are also new questions about the United States: Was this an unconstitutional act of war? Will it lead to more violent acts in the Western Hemisphere? Will it fracture MAGA’s foreign-policy consensus?
