Trump Says He Kept Venezuela’s Regime Intact to Avoid an “Iraq-Style” Collapse

Big League Politics, 01/17/26 

President Donald Trump said Friday that he deliberately avoided dismantling Venezuela’s post-Maduro governing structure in order to prevent chaos similar to what followed the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Speaking to reporters as he departed the White House on Jan. 16, Trump explained that his administration chose to work with Venezuela’s interim leader Delcy Rodríguez rather than immediately install opposition figure María Corina Machado, citing the dangers of creating a sudden power vacuum.

Trump pointed to Iraq as a cautionary tale.

“If you ever remember a place called Iraq, where everybody was fired—the police, the generals, everybody—they ended up being ISIS,” Trump said. “Instead of just getting down to business, they ended up being ISIS.”

Judge Restricts ICE Actions Against Protesters in Minnesota

Kimberly Hayek  1/16/2026|Updated: 1/17/2026 

A federal judge in Minnesota on Friday ruled that federal immigration agents can’t detain or use nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools on peaceful protesters who aren’t obstructing authorities, including when these people are observing the agents.

The decision, handed down by U.S. District Judge Kate Menendez, stems from a lawsuit brought last month by six local activists.

These individuals, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota, said that Homeland Security (DHS)  personnel were infringing on their First Amendment rights when they observed federal agents performing their duties.

After the ruling, Tricia McLaughlin, DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, issued a statement saying her agency was taking “appropriate and constitutional measures to uphold the rule of law and protect our officers and the public from dangerous rioters.”

French Bishops Issue Public Statement Fearing a Right to Euthanasia and/or Prison

By Bryan Lawrence Gonsalves

French Catholic bishops have issued a public statement urging lawmakers to reject a proposed law that would legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide in France. The warning comes days before the French Senate is scheduled to debate the “end of life” bill between Jan. 20 and Jan. 26.

The bill, which was already passed by the National Assembly in May 2025, would establish a new “right to die” for gravely ill adults, but France’s bishops argue it would threaten the most fragile and undermine the respect due to every human life.

The pro-euthanasia legislation was adopted by France’s lower house on May 27, 2025, with 305 votes in favor and 199 against.

Gays Against Groomers Takes Washington D.C.

Being in Washington, D.C. to save girls’ sports was one for the record books. It was an honor to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with allies, parents, athletes, and everyday Americans who refuse to stay silent. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two pivotal cases: Little v. Hecox from Idaho and West Virginia v. B.P.J. These challenges target state laws that ban male athletes from competing in female sports. The importance of these cases cannot be overstated. For decades, Title IX has ensured that women and girls have equal opportunities in education and athletics, carving out spaces where they can compete fairly and safely.

But in recent years, a radical push to allow males into female categories has eroded these hard-won protections. In Little v. Hecox, Idaho’s law prohibits biological males from participating in girls’ sports at public schools and colleges, emphasizing sex-based categories to prevent unfair advantages. Similarly, West Virginia v. B.P.J. upholds a ban on male athletes joining female teams, arguing that physical differences rooted in biology (strength, speed, bone density) give males an edge that no amount of hormone suppression can fully erase. Studies from sports scientists show that even after testosterone reduction, male athletes retain significant advantages, leading to displaced female competitors, shattered records, and increased injury risks for girls.

South Carolina Bill Would Ban All Abortions, Call Killing a Baby Murder

South Carolina Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation that would provide equal protection to unborn children by applying the state’s homicide laws to abortion from the moment of conception, effectively banning abortions and treating it as murder.

The Prenatal Equal Protection Act, filed in the House of Representatives, would extend existing homicide and wrongful death statutes to cover the killing of an unborn child at any stage of development, imposing criminal penalties on all involved parties, including the pregnant woman.

The bill includes no exceptions and is set for a hearing Wednesday in the House Constitutional Laws Subcommittee.

Republican state Sen. Lee Bright, who introduced the measure, emphasized the need to safeguard the lives of the unborn during a press conference at the State House.

“These children deserve equal protection,” Bright said. “I will be filing a bill of equal protection today. I know we’ve got hearts and minds to change.”

Canada Killing Prisoners

Canada is letting prisoners end their lives through assisted suicide decades after banning capital punishment, according to newly released federal data.

In 2025 alone, 12 federal inmates requested assisted suicide, which Canada calls Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD), according to an Order Paper response from the Correctional Service of Canada.

Since 2018, at least 15 inmates have died by assisted suicide while in federal custody, according to data reported by the Daily Mail. Over this period, 67 prisoners applied for assisted suicide after it was legalized nationwide in 2016. 

Canada abolished the death penalty for civilian crimes in 1976 and removed it from military law in 1998. Life imprisonment replaced capital punishment for murder and other serious offenses. Even so, the state now permits prisoners to request physician-assisted death while serving their sentences.

The Correctional Service of Canada has reported an increase in assisted suicide requests following the expansion of eligibility rules under the country’s liberal government.

Compassion and Choices Suffers Damaging Court Loss in New Jersey

By Ian McIntosh (pictured here)

For some it may be unthinkable at any time of the year, let alone during the holiday season, that there is a cadre of relentless professional assisted suicide advocacy organizations seeking more efficient ways for people with disabilities to kill themselves during this national moment when Medicare, SNAP, and “streamlined” federal departments (i.e. HUD ) poised to present increased difficulties to for our country’s most vulnerable population to live as 2026 looms.

Against this harrowing backdrop, some great news: Our co-plaintiff’s sister organization, the Patients Rights Action Fund (PRAF), provided the following encouraging update:

 “A federal appeals court has delivered a damaging blow to the Compassion and Choices lawsuit seeking to eliminate New Jersey’s requirement that only residents have ability to request lethal drugs under its assisted suicide law. The denial of this request upholds the decision by a district court judge earlier this year to maintain New Jersey’s residency requirement.

Trump Announces Victory in Venezuela

“All Venezuelan military capacities were rendered powerless,” as U.S. forces “successfully captured Maduro in the dead of night,” he announced.

Trump said both Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, had been captured and would face legal charges in the Southern District of New York.

He called the operation “one of the most stunning, effective, and powerful displays of American military might and competence in American history.”

“It was an assault against a heavily fortified military fortress in the heart of Caracas,” Venezuela’s capital. He said no operation like it has been “seen since World War II.”

“Not a single American service member was killed and not a single piece of American equipment was lost,” Trump added.

He said U.S. forces were ready to stage a second and larger attack, but that seems unnecessary at this point.

The Trial of My Life Begins Monday

There comes to a point in every man's life when you wonder how history will remember you ... .No matter what happens in my RIGGED trial, I know with absolute confidence that history will say: “Rudy W. Giuliani was a fighter.”

I fought the Mafia, I fought violent criminals, I fought corruption, I fought the Deep State agents who tried to frame and destroy my client – President Trump.

Now, at 81 years old, rather than fighting for someone else’s freedom and justice, I find myself fighting for my own.