Tuesday January 6th, 2026
- "It Is Not A Question of Who Is Right Or Wrong But What Is Right Or Wrong That Counts."
- --Geoff Metcalf
- Providing an on line Triage of the news since 1998
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World & Nation
Trump Lauds First Year, Predicts 'Epic Midterm Victory'
President Donald Trump told Republicans at the GOP House retreat
Tuesday at the Trump-Kennedy Center that the party is positioned to
defy the usual midterm backlash against the sitting president's party
and deliver what he called an "epic" victory in 2026.
"So together, we had 12 months of unprecedented success in 2025. And
now we're going to make history and break records with the epic midterm
victory that we're going to pull off," Trump said in the address, shown
on Newsmax.
He said the past year has seen an “amazing” presidency.
Trump said it is "an amazing phenomenon" that presidents often see
their parties lose seats in midterm elections — even when the
administration is doing well — and said he expects Republicans to beat
that trend.
Hill Leaders: Trump Didn't Need Approval for Maduro Op
The leaders of the House and Senate said Monday that President Donald
Trump did not need congressional authorization for the military
operation that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife
and brought them to the U.S. to face federal drug charges.
The Trump administration notified the leaders of both parties in the
House and Senate, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., House Minority Leader
Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., as well as the chairs and
ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence committees after
the operation began, according to The Hill.
Congressional Democrats criticized the Trump administration for acting
without authorization from Congress, citing Article I of the
Constitution, which gives the legislative branch authority to declare
war.
Trump's Credit Card Cap Could Give Consumers $100 Billion in Savings
Late last year, Americans hit another milestone: total credit card debt
reached a record $1.23 trillion, with the average household in hock for
$9,326.
Increasingly Americans facing an affordability crisis are using their plastic to pay for basics like food and housing.
As of August 2025, the Federal Reserve reported the average interest
rate on credit card accounts was 22.83%. Some consumers with low credit
scores pay nearly 30%.
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump announced he would cap credit card rates at 10%.
Hilton drops Minneapolis hotel that lied about immigration agent ban
Hilton is booting an independently franchised Minneapolis hotel from
operating under its name after it banned immigration agents and then
lied about reversing the policy.
The global hotel chain was swiftly denounced Monday after Homeland
Security shared an email from the Hampton Inn by Hilton in Lakeville
notifying the agency it was canceling reservations made by agents ahead
of an immigration enforcement deployment.
“The independent hotel owner had assured us that they had fixed this
problem and published a message confirming this,” read a statement from
Hilton posted on X Tuesday morning.
A clerk at the hotel told conservative influencer Nick Sortorm “We’re
not accepting people from immigration, ICE agents, DHS onto our
property … it’s just policy,”
Jasmine Crockett says 'f--- you' to the Supreme Court over Texas redistricting decision
Texas representative launched Senate bid after new Texas congressional maps pushed her out of her district
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said "f--- you" to the Supreme Court
over its decision to temporarily uphold Texas' new congressional
districts.
In a video posted to her YouTube account on Sunday, Crockett commented
on what she claims are efforts by President Donald Trump and the
Republican Party to "rig the system" ahead of the 2026 midterm
elections using redistricting tactics.
"Obviously, Trump is still doing his bidding with these state Houses
and state Senates and governor's mansions to try to rig the system,"
Crockett said. "Kudos to Indiana for saying f--- you. Kudos to
California for saying we're going to fight back."
Mamdani admits he has no federal security clearance after claiming he was 'briefed' on Venezuela raid
Zohran Mamdani faced viral jokes on
social media after appearing to suggest he had inside information on
Nicolas Maduro's capture
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani admitted he has no federal security
clearance on Monday, just a day after claiming he had been "briefed"
about the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Mamdani was asked directly about his security clearance during a Monday
press briefing, ultimately saying that he had not yet received it. The
freshly-inaugurated mayor had been the butt of viral jokes on social
media from users suggesting he had inflated his access to information
about the strike in his initial statement.
"You don't have federal security clearance yet, and has anyone from a
federal agency reached out to you or members of your team to begin the
vetting to get federal security clearance?" a reporter asked.
Kelly fires back at Hegseth over censure, says he's never backing down
Arizona senator faces formal censure letter over video encouraging troops to refuse illegal orders from Trump administration
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., fired back Monday at Secretary of War Pete
Hegseth during an interview on MS NOW, after Hegseth announced that
Kelly would receive a formal censure letter related to a video he and
other lawmakers posted urging troops to refuse illegal orders.
Kelly told host Rachel Maddow he was "surprised" the administration was trying to "silence" him.
"I’m never going to back down from these guys. I’m going to continue to
speak out. I’m going to continue to do my job. And as much as I can
highlight how wrong these people are and how outrageous this is and how
dangerous. So I’m not going away. This is just one step in this
process. And I think it’s fair to say it’s a big one," the senator said.
Kelly was one of six lawmakers who appeared in a video in November
urging service members to reject illegal orders from the Trump
administration.
From Congress, to VP nominee to disgraced former governor: A look at the rise and fall of Tim Walz
Walz's political career took him from Congress, to the Minnesota state capitol, to a run for vice-president of the United States
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has dropped his re-election bid this week in
the wake of revelations of massive fraud that occurred under his watch
— potentially ending the political career of a governor who came into
office with consolidated support, accomplished several progressive
goals, and shot to the national spotlight as a vice presidential
candidate before being undone by scandal.
The 61-year-old Walz was raised in rural Nebraska and enlisted in the
Army National Guard in 1981, soon after graduating from high school.
Walz returned to Nebraska to attend Chadron State College, where he
graduated in 1989 with a degree in social science education.
He taught English and American History in China for one year through a
program at Harvard University before being hired in 1990 as a high
school teacher and football and basketball coach in Nebraska. Six years
later, he moved to Mankato, Minnesota, to teach geography at Mankato
West High.
Walz was deployed to Italy to support Operation Enduring Freedom in
2003 before retiring two years later from the National Guard.
President Trump has placed America’s adversaries on no
Take very seriously whatever President Trump says directly to you
By Hugh Hewitt
Three things were said in the aftermath of the remarkable "Operation
Absolute Resolve," mounted by the American military, which resulted in
the arrest in Venezuela and removal to a Brooklyn jail of dictator
Nicholas Maduro and his wife in the early morning hours of Saturday
which deserve particular attention.
During the press conference that morning, after President Donald Trump
had announced the stunning success of the American military’s actions,
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said: "President Trump doesn’t play
games."
In the course of the press conference that followed, President Trump
declared at one point, simply but directly: "Life is a deal."
Tim Walz jumps ship — and leaves fraud-scarred Minnesota Dems in big trouble
Tim Walz is going away, but the Democratic Party’s Tim Walz crisis isn’t.
The Minnesota governor gave up his quest for a third term Monday:
Staying out of jail will be challenging enough for him over the next
few months, never mind prolonging his stay in office.
Federal prosecutors estimate the Somali day care scam and other frauds perpetrated on his watch cost taxpayers up to $9 billion.
A constituency with that kind of money can be a big “help” to a state politician — or a national one, for that matter.
