NPR - On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, Trump held a "Save America" rally at the Ellipse, a site near the White House and U.S. Capitol. Multiple speakers promoted voter fraud myths and urged Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election. Meanwhile, a group of 200 Proud Boys marched toward the Capitol. Before Trump’s speech ended, violence erupted on Capitol grounds. The Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol “was the most videotaped crime in American history, if not world history,” according to Greg Rosen, a former federal prosecutor who led the Justice Department unit that investigated the riot. But conspiracy theories still falsely label the assault a "normal tourist visit." NPR’s review of thousands of court videos shows rioters assaulting officers with weapons, calling for executions and looting the building. These videos show the exact timing of events as they occurred. Corresponding maps show the locations where the conflict took place.
To learn more, explore NPR's database of federal criminal cases from Jan. 6. You can also see more of NPR's reporting on the topic.
January 7, 2026
Co-ops
Doug O'Brien, President/CEO National Cooperative Business Assn - As we look toward the year ahead, like all businesses, cooperatives face a great amount of uncertainty—in the economy, in policy and in how people engage with their work and each other.
The accelerating pace of technological change in AI and beyond presents both opportunities for businesses to increase productivity and major risks for individuals, both as workers and private citizens. Meanwhile, the long-term slide in people’s confidence in institutions, both public and private, continues. Finally, while some economic indicators show positive signs for the overall economy, far too many households find it nearly impossible to keep up with rising costs. With each of these dynamics—technology, institutional confidence and affordability—cooperatives have a unique and important role to play. When people own and control their own businesses, they can make sure those businesses benefits their members and communities. To put it plainly, the country and the world need cooperatives now more than ever.
For co-ops to thrive, they need to work together. This fact is baked into the Cooperative Identity in the 6th Cooperative Principle, “Cooperation among cooperatives.” While this principle includes the idea of co-ops doing business together, it also focuses on co-ops working together in association to ensure a better policy environment and to increase the public’s understanding. For these reasons, a group of co-ops came together 110 years ago to establish a cross-sector association for the U.S. then called the Cooperative League of the United States of America—what is currently known as the National Cooperative Business Association. Because co-ops are so critical for this moment, our work is as important as ever.
NCBA - There are 1300 worker cop=ops nationwide, a number that has tripled in the past decade—with more than half launched in the past five years.
Politics
The Hill - House Republicans mapping out their legislative agenda for 2026 got a start-of-year pep talk on Tuesday from President Trump, who has been key in unifying the GOP behind his priorities, at a policy retreat at the Kennedy Center — newly renamed the “Trump Kennedy Center.” But the meandering off-script, hour-and-a-half speech provided few specifics or directives, even as the president stressed the importance of electoral success.
The midterms do have big stakes, and the months leading up to them are likely to show off the conflicting opinions within the House GOP about what kind of priorities to pursue.
The midterms threaten to end the GOP’s control of Congress, and the Republicans’ razor-thin majority is a reminder of how easily it could be lost this fall.
"You got to win the midterms. Because if we don’t win the midterms … they’ll find a reason to impeach me,” Trump said.
The midterms do have big stakes, and the months leading up to them are likely to show off the conflicting opinions within the House GOP about what kind of priorities to pursue.
The midterms threaten to end the GOP’s control of Congress, and the Republicans’ razor-thin majority is a reminder of how easily it could be lost this fall.
"You got to win the midterms. Because if we don’t win the midterms … they’ll find a reason to impeach me,” Trump said.
Justices Trigger Policy Earthquake
Newsworthy News - The Supreme Court’s shadow docket has emerged as a pivotal instrument in the Trump-Vance administration’s strategy to implement significant policy changes. This tool allows for emergency orders without full briefing, facilitating rapid shifts in immigration profiling, military policies, and federal agency operations. The administration has submitted an unprecedented 28 emergency applications since mid-September 2025, compared to eight during the previous 16 years under Bush and Obama.
Critics argue that this process undermines the Court’s deliberative function, eroding constitutional protections and due process. The liberal justices, including Justice Sotomayor, have voiced strong dissent, particularly against policies that allow racial profiling in immigration enforcement. This division among the justices highlights the ideological split, with conservative justices such as Justice Kavanaugh supporting the administration’s enforcement efficiency.
Venezuela
Time - The United Nations on Tuesday said the action from the U.S. has made “all States less safe around the world.” This follows significant criticism and caution from world leaders regarding the Venezuela operation. Furthermore, since Saturday’s pre-dawn raid in Caracas, Trump has threatened that the U.S. may carry out interventions elsewhere in the world, prompting further concern and disapproval.
Axios - Forget talk about elections and democracy in Venezuela. The Trump administration has a simple goal there: Back a pro-U.S. government — and prop it up with millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil.
The plan hinges on the U.S. taking de facto control of oil production in Venezuela, which may have the largest crude reserves in the world but has been crippled by the twin forces of kleptocracy and U.S. sanctions....
President Trump announced yesterday on Truth Social that the U.S. would receive as many as 50 million barrels of sanctioned oil from Venezuela, worth about $2.5 billion. Venezuela would share in the profits from the sale, Trump said...
Trump's announcement yesterday came at a crucial time for Venezuela's petrol-funded government. It's teetering on economic collapse, partly because of a U.S. blockade of most oil tankers leaving the country, sent there to pressure Maduro to leave office...
The toppling of Maduro was a surgical strike that left the rest of his socialist regime in place in Caracas, an effort to keep it stable. Some members of Venezuela's opposition have continued to press for fair elections after widespread voter fraud has kept Maduro in power....
Friday's meeting is expected to include representatives from Chevron, Exxon and ConocoPhillips, the Wall Street Journal reports. And Energy Secretary Chris Wright will meet with several companies at an industry conference in Miami today, a spokesman said. Full Story
The Hill - The U.S. has seized another oil tanker linked to Venezuela. The U.S. European Command said Wednesday on the social platform X that the Defense Department, in conjunction with the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security, seized the M/V Bella 1 ship in the North Atlantic “for violations of U.S. sanctions.” This marks the third such vessel the U.S. has captured in the last month. It also comes less than a week after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
January 6, 2026
Donald Trump
- Mexico
- Canada
- Cuba
- Colombia
- Kalaallit Nunaat
- Panama
Bombed:
- Iran
- Nigeria
- Yemen
- Somalia
- Syria
- Iraq
- Venezuela
Threatened to depose leader of:
- Cuba
- Colombia
Kidnapped the leader of:
- Venezuela
Health
NPR - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reducing its number of recommended childhood vaccines from 17 to 11. The agency’s new schedule, which includes vaccines that had previously been recommended for all children — such as those for rotavirus, hepatitis A and B, meningitis and seasonal flu — is now more restrictive. The agency made these changes in response to a memo Trump issued in December directing health officials to align the U.S. schedule with those in "peer, developed countries" such as Germany and Japan.
The new restrictions will lead to fewer children getting vaccinated, with consequences that could be seen for years down the line, Dr. Sean O’Leary, with the American Academy of Pediatrics, tells NPR's Pien Huang. The agency implemented these changes without any new scientific developments behind them, Huang notes. The agency sidestepped its own advisory committee and didn’t consult vaccine makers.
Axios - The slimmed-down vaccine schedule resembling Denmark's suggests that the administration is undaunted by public support for childhood vaccines — or by warnings about the return of preventable diseases.
Driving the news: The U.S. is now only recommending that all kids receive 11 vaccines, with additional shots for high-risk children. Before Trump's second inauguration, the U.S. had recommended 17 vaccines.
The CDC now says that parents should consult with physicians before inoculating their children with previously recommended shots for six diseases, including rotavirus, COVID-19 and influenza.
All vaccines previously recommended by the federal government will continue to be covered by insurers, officials said.
"We are aligning the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule with international consensus while strengthening transparency and informed consent," said Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "This decision protects children, respects families, and rebuilds trust in public health."
The big picture: Such significant changes to the childhood vaccine schedule will have an impact on public health, one way or another. But they also all but ensure vaccines will be front and center in the political discourse.
Administration officials maintain the decision — announced without any new data exactly one month after Trump demanded a review of the vaccine schedule — will actually restore public trust in vaccines, by focusing on what one called "the most important diseases."
But many medical experts argue they'll have the exact opposite effect, an argument Democrats have quickly adopted as their own.
What we're watching: The vaccine schedule change is likely to prompt litigation — either in the form of direct challenges to the schedule change or new vaccine injury lawsuits testing whether the revised recommendations have loosened federal liability protections for manufacturers. More
The Supremes hard right turn
, Daily Beast - A new study has bolstered a scathing dissent from liberal Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson that warned the court appeared to favor the rich.
The study, published Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research, investigated whether the Supreme Court has contributed to rising income inequality by ruling in favor of policies that favor wealthy parties.
Its authors—two academics from Columbia University in New York and one from Yale University—found that in cases pitting the rich against the poor, Republican appointees were far more likely than their Democratic colleagues to side with the wealthier party.
Back in 1953, Democratic and Republican appointees were statistically indistinguishable on the issue, with justices appointed by members of both parties favoring the rich in 45 percent of cases on average.
By 2022, the average Republican-appointed justice was voting in favor of the rich a whopping 70 percent of the time.
The average Democratic justice cast a “pro-rich” vote—which was defined as a vote that would directly shift resources to the party that was more likely to be wealthy, including votes that supported businesses over consumers or workers—just 35 percent of the time.
Reclaiming January 6 as the day democracy prevailed
Robert B. Hubbell - Many things happened on January 6, but the most important was this: democracy prevailed. It held against a violent mob, a corrupt president, and a Republican Party willing to look away. The insurrection that began on January 6 is not over, nor is our defense of democracy. But as we did on January 6, pro‑democracy forces are holding the line through vigilance, persistence, and the collective refusal to surrender.
January 6 is a dark day in American history, not the least because it is compounded by Trump’s shameful pardon of insurrectionists who assaulted law enforcement officers defending Congress as it completed the transfer of power commanded by the Constitution. Congressional Republicans continue the shameful effort to rewrite the narrative of January 6 by refusing to install a plaque in the Capitol—as required by law—honoring the law enforcement officers who served as the last line of defense on January 6. See CBS News, Congress defies its own law, fails to install plaque honoring Jan. 6 police officers.
We must reclaim January 6 as a celebration of the day democracy held. We can do so by completing our defense of democracy, a defense that includes taking control of Congress and the presidency, reforming the Supreme Court (and undoing its corrupt jurisprudence), and holding to account everyone who facilitated Trump’s lawless reign, including cabinet secretaries, agency heads, military leaders, and corrupt business executives.
We can transform January 6 into a day celebrating democracy through our ongoing resistance to the antidemocratic forces that assault the Constitution to this day. Protest by protest, postcard by postcard, streetcorner by streetcorner, and election by election, we will remake January 6 into a day celebrating the victory of democracy over the forces of darkness.
On the fifth anniversary of January 6, be part of the process to reclaim it as a day of celebration. Raise your voices. Exercise your rights to assemble and to petition the government for redress of grievances. Contact your representatives. Be seen. Be heard. Inspire others to action. Remind others—and ourselves—that we are “the governed” whose consent is necessary for the government to exist.
Reclaim January 6 for ourselves and for democracy by completing the work that began five years ago today.
January 6 is a dark day in American history, not the least because it is compounded by Trump’s shameful pardon of insurrectionists who assaulted law enforcement officers defending Congress as it completed the transfer of power commanded by the Constitution. Congressional Republicans continue the shameful effort to rewrite the narrative of January 6 by refusing to install a plaque in the Capitol—as required by law—honoring the law enforcement officers who served as the last line of defense on January 6. See CBS News, Congress defies its own law, fails to install plaque honoring Jan. 6 police officers.
We must reclaim January 6 as a celebration of the day democracy held. We can do so by completing our defense of democracy, a defense that includes taking control of Congress and the presidency, reforming the Supreme Court (and undoing its corrupt jurisprudence), and holding to account everyone who facilitated Trump’s lawless reign, including cabinet secretaries, agency heads, military leaders, and corrupt business executives.
We can transform January 6 into a day celebrating democracy through our ongoing resistance to the antidemocratic forces that assault the Constitution to this day. Protest by protest, postcard by postcard, streetcorner by streetcorner, and election by election, we will remake January 6 into a day celebrating the victory of democracy over the forces of darkness.
On the fifth anniversary of January 6, be part of the process to reclaim it as a day of celebration. Raise your voices. Exercise your rights to assemble and to petition the government for redress of grievances. Contact your representatives. Be seen. Be heard. Inspire others to action. Remind others—and ourselves—that we are “the governed” whose consent is necessary for the government to exist.
Reclaim January 6 for ourselves and for democracy by completing the work that began five years ago today.
Best cities for jobs
WalletHub - To determine the strongest local job markets in the U.S., WalletHub compared more than 180 cities across 31 key metrics. The data set ranges from job opportunities per job seeker to employment growth to the monthly average starting salary.
Best vs. Worst
| Best Cities for Jobs | Worst Cities for Jobs |
| 1. Scottsdale, AZ | 173. Huntington, WV |
| 2. Columbia, MD | 174. Toledo, OH |
| 3. Portland, ME | 175. Fayetteville, NC |
| 4. South Burlington, VT | 176. Columbus, GA |
| 5. Pittsburgh, PA | 177. Augusta, GA |
| 6. Orlando, FL | 178. Las Cruces, NM |
| 7. Plano, TX | 179. Shreveport, LA |
| 8. Washington, DC | 180. Stockton, CA |
| 9. Austin, TX | 181. Memphis, TN |
| 10. Huntsville, AL | 182. Detroit, MI |
Best vs. Worst
- Columbia, Maryland, has the highest median annual household income (adjusted by cost of living), which is 3.4 times higher than in Detroit, Michigan, the city with the lowest.
- San Jose, California, has the highest monthly average starting salary, which is 3.1 times higher than in Juneau, Alaska, the city with the lowest.
- Fremont, California, has the fewest part-time employees for every 100 full-time employees, which is 3.7 times fewer than in Burlington, Vermont, the city with the most.
- Fremont, California, has the lowest share of workers living in poverty, which is 9.7 times lower than in Huntington, West Virginia, the city with the highest.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)