"I don't need international law," he added in the Oval Office conversation on Wednesday evening. "I'm not looking to hurt people."
January 9, 2026
Donald Trump
Axios - Asked in a nearly two-hour interview with The New York Times if there are any limits on his global powers, President Trump said: "Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me."
The Jan 6 attack
NPR - While Trump initially condemned the Jan. 6 attack, he soon switched his stance by embracing the rioters as “political prisoners.” On Jan. 12, 2025, just eight days before Trump’s inauguration, incoming Vice President Vance said that the administration would not pardon defendants convicted of assaulting police. But one of Trump’s first acts in office was to grant full pardons to most defendants. Only 14 defendants — all of whom were linked to extremist groups — received commutations, meaning they were released from prison, but the convictions remained on their records. The Trump administration then deleted a government database containing cases linked to the attack. Evidence began disappearing from a site that shared court exhibits with the media. Explore the aftermath of the pardons, including which Trump appointees advocated for Jan. 6 defendants.
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.
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.
Polls
NPR - A new NPR/Ipsos poll reveals that while Americans across the political spectrum want the U.S. to be a global moral leader, fewer believe it holds that title today. The survey highlights a significant gap: 61% of respondents believe the U.S. should be a moral leader, while 39% believe it actually is one. The latter figure shows a steep decline from 2017, when 60% of Americans viewed the nation as a moral leader in a similar survey. This is what the poll says about American foreign policy.
Meanwhile. . .
NBC News - NASA said that it will bring four astronauts aboard the International Space Station back to Earth earlier than planned because of a medical issue.
Obamacare
NBC News - The House voted to revive expired Obamacare funds for three years, but Republican leaders in the Senate have pronounced the legislation dead on arrival.
Iran
NBC News - Iran’s supreme leader signaled a hard line Friday against protesters rocking the Islamic Republic, accusing them of acting on behalf of President Donald Trump.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said demonstrators were "ruining their own streets to make the president of another country happy," according to news agencies.
Khamenei signaled authorities would intensify their crackdown on protests, with the internet shut down nationwide and international calls not reaching the country.
Protests erupted in several cities on Thursday despite clashes with security forces that have left dozens dead.
Shops were also shuttered in the main bazaar of capital Tehran and smaller cities, according to online video, as inflation soared and the Iranian currency crashed against the U.S. dollar this week.
Demonstrations — which have raged for 12 days — have also taken a more political tone, with protesters chanting against Khamenei. Full story
Ukraine
NBC News - Russia attacked Ukraine overnight with a new hypersonic ballistic missile, an advanced weapon capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
President Vladimir Putin has boasted the Oreshnik missile is impossible to intercept as it can travel up to 10 times the speed of sound, but analysts have questioned this claim.
The Russian Defense Ministry said early Friday that it had carried out the "massive strike" against critically important targets. Full story
Venezuela
Roll Call - The Senate on Thursday voted to advance a joint resolution aimed at preventing President Donald Trump from taking more military action against Venezuela days after U.S. forces bombed Caracas and captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Senators voted 52-47 to discharge a war powers resolution from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that would bar military action “within or against” Venezuela absent a specific congressional authorization. The Senate will now need to vote in the coming days on whether to pass the measure; the initial procedural tally bodes well, though passage isn’t a lock.
The outcome represents a reversal from just a couple of months ago, when the Senate voted against advancing a nearly identical measure.
“I believe invoking the War Powers act at this moment is necessary, given the President’s comments about the possibility of ‘boots on the ground’ and a sustained engagement ‘running’ Venezuela, with which I do not agree,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a statement announcing her “yes” vote Thursday.
In addition to Collins, Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., also voted in support of advancing the joint resolution Thursday after previously voting to block the similar measure. GOP Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who co-sponsored the joint resolution, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also voted in favor of advancing the measure, as they did with the previous proposal.
Jobs
NY Times - Employers continued to hire at a modest pace in December and the unemployment rate declined, according to federal data released on Friday after interruptions resulting from the government shutdown.
Employers added 50,000 jobs in the last month of 2025 and the unemployment rate fell to 4.4 percent, the data showed. For the full year, U.S. employment growth in 2025 was the weakest since the recession in 2020.
Average hourly earnings grew at a 0.3 percent pace on a monthly basis in December, and 3.8 percent on an annual basis, an acceleration compared with the trend of previous months....
The job market has deteriorated over the past year for new graduates and others who are looking for work. And yet, nearly every week, data on new jobless claims across all 50 states has shown that firings remain low.
The unemployment rate inched up throughout 2025. Still, the labor force participation rate for people in their prime working years, between age 24 and 65, remains at a relatively solid 80.7 percent.
Health care and social assistance continued to lead the way for payrolls growth. There were 27,000 job gains for the month in food services and drinking places. Health care employment rose by 21,000. Job growth in most other industries, however, was mild, generally a sign of sluggishness in the business cycle. Retail, for instance, lost 25,000 jobs in December.
With revisions to previous months, employment gains in October and November were 76,000 lower than previously reported. A report from Oxford Economics, a research firm, noted that, after Trump administration’s monthslong cuts to the federal work force, “net job losses among federal workers were minimal, and we think the wave of federal job losses is behind us.”
Employment in the manufacturing sector dropped by roughly 8,000 jobs last month, and has fallen to about 484,000 jobs in December 2025 from 542,000 in December 2024, despite President Trump’s promises that tariffs would lead to a boom in re-shoring American factory employment.
The persistence of a low overall unemployment rate is a relief for those who were previously worried about a recession, but doesn’t amount to what many think of as a good job market. For those without a job, finding another is proving more difficult. Guy Berger, the director of economic research at the Burning Glass Institute, noted that the rate of hiring is around the pace it was from 2010 to 2011, “when the unemployment rate was north of 9 percent.”
Markets have expected Federal Reserve officials to keep interest rates at current levels when they meet later this month. This latest insight into the nation’s employment situation will add to their intense deliberations over whether to cut rates to bolster the economy or keep them steady to ward off inflation. For now, traders expect the Fed to keep rates unchanged.
Even amid concerns about labor market weakness, the latest numbers on growth remain strong. Gross domestic product, the standard measure of total economic activity, grew at a 4.3 percent annualized pace in the third quarter, and productivity (business output per employee) grew by 4.9 percent.
Most analysts expect that this momentum moderated in the last three months of 2025. But they still expect growth in the $30 trillion U.S. economy will register a respectable pace in 2026 — above 2 percent — even as serious concerns about housing affordability and the general cost of living persist.
Trump's oil scheme
MS NOW - President Donald Trump will meet with oil executives at the White House on Friday to pitch an ambitious goal that highlights a fundamental problem in his hopes for Venezuela’s oil industry: He wants American oil companies to invest heavily, but get lower prices for their product.
Trump’s aim is to vastly increase oil production in the country to help reduce the global price of oil to around $50 a barrel to ease costs for American consumers. But dramatically increasing oil production in Venezuela will take years, and oil analysts argue that reducing the price of oil to $50 a barrel will make drilling unprofitable.
In Friday’s meeting, Trump hopes to convince the executives to support a plan that would require oil companies to rebuild Venezuela’s dilapidated energy infrastructure, investments that could exceed $60 billion.
“They’re going to rebuild the whole oil infrastructure,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News Thursday night, referring to the oil companies. “They’re going to spend at least $100 billion.”
But executives have expressed deep hesitation about committing capital to a country where they previously lost billions and where profitability remains uncertain, particularly if Trump succeeds in his promise to lower global oil prices.
Trump’s aim is to vastly increase oil production in the country to help reduce the global price of oil to around $50 a barrel to ease costs for American consumers. But dramatically increasing oil production in Venezuela will take years, and oil analysts argue that reducing the price of oil to $50 a barrel will make drilling unprofitable.
In Friday’s meeting, Trump hopes to convince the executives to support a plan that would require oil companies to rebuild Venezuela’s dilapidated energy infrastructure, investments that could exceed $60 billion.
“They’re going to rebuild the whole oil infrastructure,” Trump said in an interview on Fox News Thursday night, referring to the oil companies. “They’re going to spend at least $100 billion.”
But executives have expressed deep hesitation about committing capital to a country where they previously lost billions and where profitability remains uncertain, particularly if Trump succeeds in his promise to lower global oil prices.
Axios - The U.S. oil boom — along with a global crude glut and low pump prices — are bolstering Trump's foreign policy ambitions.
- Relying less on imported oil, combined with the soft global market, gives the U.S. an expanded foreign-policy menu.
- So if Trump wants to capture Venezuela's leader — or threaten and bomb Iran — he can do it with much less risk in spiking pump prices at home.
The U.S. has nearly tripled oil production over the last 15-ish years, thanks to fracking unlocking vast reserves of oil and natural gas in shale rock formations in Texas and several other states.
- The U.S. is now — by far — the world's top producer at nearly 14 million barrels per day.
- "The shale revolution has certainly brought a sense of confidence and security that wasn't there when the U.S. was the largest importer of oil," oil historian and S&P global vice chairman Dan Yergin said in an interview....
Analysts say that while interest and risk tolerance will vary by company, overall the biggest and more expert players will hesitate to spend big sums in Venezuela.
- That's especially true for any near-term efforts, when profitably producing from Venezuela would be tough.
- "Prices are certainly a big issue. At $60 per barrel, Venezuela's oil isn't profitable. This is some of the highest-cost oil to produce," oil analyst Ellen Wald said in an interview.
- And, she notes, Trump's goal is to push prices downward.
She cited another reason for industry's hesitation: Even if Trump dangles financial incentives, a future president could always pull them back.
- While she's skeptical, Wald doesn't rule out U.S. producers — who think in multi-decade cycles — becoming open to investing in long-term projects if Venezuela's political situation stabilizes.
- Mike Sommers, head of the American Petroleum Institute, told Fox News yesterday that companies will require security guarantees and stable governance to take the plunge.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent yesterday pushed back on the idea that oil companies are not immediately interested.
January 8, 2026
Tariffs
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| Zoe Tillamn - With SCOTUS poised to rule on Trump's tariffs as soon as Friday, more than 1,000 companies -- big, small, public, private -- already have filed lawsuits seeking refunds for their share of the billions of dollars in duties paid so far if the administration loses |
Health
Top 10 Healthiest States
1 - New Hampshire
2 - Massachusetts
3 - Vermont
4 - Connecticut
5 - Utah
6 - Minnesota
7 - Washington
8 - Maryland
9 - Hawaii
10 - Rhode Island
United Health Foundation
1 - New Hampshire
2 - Massachusetts
3 - Vermont
4 - Connecticut
5 - Utah
6 - Minnesota
7 - Washington
8 - Maryland
9 - Hawaii
10 - Rhode Island
United Health Foundation
Venezuela
Republicans Against Trump - In a major blow to Donald Trump, the Senate voted 52–47 to advance a resolution that would bar the president from taking further military action in Venezuela without congressional approval.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the sponsor of the bipartisan measure, voted with Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) to discharge the resolution out of committee and bring it to the floor.
The Senate could vote to pass the resolution on the Senate floor next week.
“Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again,” Trump said.
“This Vote greatly hampers American Self Defense and National Security, impeding the President’s Authority as Commander in Chief,” he continued.
President Trump lashed out at the five Republican senators who voted with Democrats on Thursday to advance a bipartisan resolution on the War Powers Act that would block the administration from using military force against Venezuela, saying they should not be reelected.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the sponsor of the bipartisan measure, voted with Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Todd Young (R-Ind.) to discharge the resolution out of committee and bring it to the floor.
“Republicans should be ashamed of the Senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our Powers to fight and defend the United States of America. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again,” Trump said.
NY Times - President Trump said on Wednesday evening that he expected the United States would be running Venezuela and extracting oil from its huge reserves for years, and insisted that the interim government of the country — all former loyalists to the now-imprisoned Nicolás Maduro — is “giving us everything that we feel is necessary.”
“Only time will tell,” he said, when asked how long the administration will demand direct oversight of the South American nation, with the hovering threat of American military action from an armada just off shore.
Polls
RpsAgainstTrump (@Republicans against Trump)
Using U.S. military force to seize Greenland:
73% oppose
8% support
Buying Greenland:
45% oppose
28% support
Trump Regime Abandons Longstanding Advice on Alcohol
NY Times - Ever since the federal government began issuing the Dietary Guidelines in 1980, it has told Americans to limit themselves to one or two standard alcoholic drinks a day. Over time, the official advice morphed to no more than two drinks a day for men, and no more than one for women.
No longer. The updated guidelines issued on Wednesday say instead that people should consume less alcohol “for better overall health” and “limit alcohol beverages,” but they do not recommend clear limits.
The guidelines also no longer warn that alcohol may heighten the risk of breast cancer and other malignancies.
Trump’s EPA Could Limit Its Own Ability To Use New Science Information
ProPublica - Ethylene oxide was once considered an unremarkable pollutant. The colorless gas seeped from relatively few industrial facilities and commanded little public attention.
All that changed in 2016, when the Environmental Protection Agency completed a study that found the chemical is 30 times more carcinogenic than previously thought.
The agency then spent years updating regulations that protect millions of people who are most exposed to the compound. In 2024, the EPA approved stricter rules that require commercial sterilizers for medical equipment and large chemical plants to slash emissions of ethylene oxide, which causes lymphoma and breast cancer.
It was doing what the EPA has done countless times: revising rules based on new scientific knowledge.
Now, its ability to do that for many air pollutants is under threat.
In government records that have flown under the radar, President Donald Trump’s EPA said it is reconsidering whether the agency had the legal authority to update those rules.
Chemical companies and their trade organizations have argued that the EPA cannot reevaluate hazardous air pollution rules to account for newly discovered harms if it has revised them once already.
It doesn’t matter if decades have passed or new information has emerged.
If the EPA agrees, environmentalists fear that the decision could have wide implications, significantly curbing the EPA’s ability to limit nearly 200 pollutants from thousands of industrial plants. The next time new science reveals that a chemical is much more toxic, or that the amount of pollution released from a factory had been underestimated and would cause legally unacceptable health risks, the agency would not be able to react.
Trump regime removing US from dozens of international organizations
Shortlysts - The Trump administration is withdrawing the U.S. from dozens of international organizations, most of which are tied to the United Nations. This move reflects a deliberate effort to reshape American engagement abroad and redefine the country’s priorities within global institutions.
The administration says the decision is about focus and priorities, arguing that many organizations no longer serve clear American interests or align with U.S. policy goals. Instead of default participation, the government wants to reassess where engagement is worthwhile.
This move matches President Trump's pattern of questioning multilateral institutions and prioritizing national sovereignty. Supporters say leaving gives the U.S. more freedom and reduces entanglements that can dilute accountability.
But many warn that stepping away from global institutions reduces American influence and allows other countries to shape norms without U.S. input, making it harder to rebuild presence later.
The administration says the decision is about focus and priorities, arguing that many organizations no longer serve clear American interests or align with U.S. policy goals. Instead of default participation, the government wants to reassess where engagement is worthwhile.
This move matches President Trump's pattern of questioning multilateral institutions and prioritizing national sovereignty. Supporters say leaving gives the U.S. more freedom and reduces entanglements that can dilute accountability.
But many warn that stepping away from global institutions reduces American influence and allows other countries to shape norms without U.S. input, making it harder to rebuild presence later.
Politics
Axios - President Trump's proposal yesterday to increase the Pentagon's budget to $1.5 trillion for 2027 would push defense spending to its highest levels since the end of the Cold War.... Trump's proposal easily clears previous defense budgets by hundreds of billions of dollars, a move that will likely satisfy congressional hawks. It would be the largest Pentagon budget as a share of GDP since 1990, the year after the Berlin Wall fell.
Greenland
The Hill - Republican senators are telling senior White House officials, including senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, to “drop” talk of a U.S. takeover of Greenland, possibly with military force, which has driven a wedge between the United States and Denmark, a key NATO ally. Republican lawmakers worry the threat of an invasion of Greenland, which most shrug off as bluster, will hurt relations with key European allies.
Meanwhile . .. .
NPR - The ACLU and several authors have sued Utah over its "sensitive materials" book law, which has now banned 22 books in K-12 schools. Among the books on the ban list are The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. (via KUER)
Donald Trump
NPR - Trump takes 325 milligrams of daily aspirin, which is four times the recommended 81 milligrams of low-dose aspirin used for cardiovascular disease prevention. The president revealed this detail an interview with The Wall Street Journal published last week. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that anyone over 60 not start a daily dose of aspirin to prevent cardiovascular disease if they don't already have an underlying problem. The group said it's reasonable to stop preventive aspirin in people already taking it around age 75 years. Trump is 79. This is what you should know about aspirin and cardiac health:
💊 Doctors often prescribe the low dose of aspirin because there's no benefit to taking a higher dose, according to a large study published in 2021.
💊 Some people, including adults who have undergone heart bypass surgery and those who have had a heart attack, should take the advised dose of the drug for their entire life.
💊 While safer than other blood thinners, the drug — even at low doses — raises the risk of bleeding in the stomach and brain. But these adverse events are unlikely to cause death.
💊 Some people, including adults who have undergone heart bypass surgery and those who have had a heart attack, should take the advised dose of the drug for their entire life.
💊 While safer than other blood thinners, the drug — even at low doses — raises the risk of bleeding in the stomach and brain. But these adverse events are unlikely to cause death.
Minneapolis mayor on the ICE killing
Contrarian - The mayor of Minneapolis, recognizing the urgency of the moment, got out in front of the public quickly and pre-butted the lies which have routinely followed such incidents. Mayor Jacob Frey said, “This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.. . . What I can tell you is the narrative that this was just done in self-defense is a garbage narrative that is not true.” He added, “It has no truth, and it needs to be stated very clearly.”
More important, he put the blame where it should be. “ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis,” Frey declared. At the same time, he urged calm, asking residents not to give Trump fodder for more vicious and substantial deployments. “We are going to meet that hate with love,” Frey said. “We are going to meet that despair with hope.” He urged residents: “Let’s rise to this occasion,” calling on Minneapolis to show something “far more beautiful than the kind of division they’re trying to stoke.”
Trump dumps climate change
Axios - President Trump's decision to yank the U.S. from UN climate change agencies will set back international progress on addressing the climate, observers say. The U.S. is the world's second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and provides much of the scientific heft addressing the problem.
- Climate scientists and activists predicted it will further isolate the U.S. on the global stage.
Trump last night announced a pullout from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the foundation of most global climate work, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which regularly assesses climate science.
- "The UNFCCC underpins global climate action," EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said in a post on X. "It brings countries together to support climate, reduce emissions, adapt to climate change, and track progress."
- The U.S. "has some of the world's best climate scientists (and more of them than anywhere else) & has contributed disproportionately to understanding the climate system," University of Hawaii climate scientist David Ho said in a Bluesky post.
Climate advocates were dismayed after Trump withdrew a second time from the Paris Agreement upon taking office. But they said the latest move still stings.
- "Pulling out of the UNFCCC is a different order of magnitude from the Paris Agreement," said Jean Su, energy justice director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "It removes the U.S. completely from the global climate framework and negotiations."
- Avoiding climate talks "will only isolate the United States further, undermine our global stature with allies around the globe, and cede the field to China," said Kaveh Guilanpour, vice president for international strategies at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X that the organizations are "anti-American, useless, or wasteful international organizations. Review of additional international organizations remains ongoing."
January 7, 2026
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