> Thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAgLTrkwDEk

> https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5685118-fine-introduces-greenland-bill/

Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) has introduced a bill to make Greenland the 51st state in the U.S., following President Trump’s recent push to acquire the Danish territory.

The “Greenland Annexation and Statehood Act” was introduced by the Florida Republican on Monday, his office said in a press release. The bill’s goals, according to its text, include enabling “the annexation and subsequent admission to statehood of Greenland.”

“Greenland is not a distant outpost we can afford to ignore—it is a vital national security asset,” Fine said in the press release. “Whoever controls Greenland controls key Arctic shipping lanes and the security architecture protecting the United States.”

“America cannot leave that future in the hands of regimes that despise our values and seek to undermine our security,” he added.

The bill states that President Trump “is authorized to take such steps as may be necessary, including by seeking to enter into negotiations with the Kingdom of Denmark, to annex or otherwise acquire Greenland as a territory of the United States.”

After the U.S. owns Greenland, under the bill, Trump then has to send a report to Congress featuring possible federal law changes “as the President may determine necessary to admit the newly acquired territory as a State.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday said that there was not a “timeline” for the U.S. to take over Greenland.

“[President Trump] has not set a timeline but it’s definitely a priority for him,” Leavitt told reporters.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5665887-trump-greene-epstein-coverup-claims/
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) claimed in a New York Times profile that President Trump said his “friends will get hurt” by exposing abusers connected to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

According to the story told by Greene, she received a call from Trump after she said at a news conference that she would expose the names of men who abused victims of Epstein. The news conference came after a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee closed-door meeting with women victimized by Epstein.

Greene said Trump called her after the news conference to express his unhappiness. The Times reported that people could hear Trump yelling at Greene as she talked to him over a speakerphone.

Greene said she told Trump she didn’t understand his intransigence, per the Times.

“My friends will get hurt,” the president said in response to Greene, she said to the outlet.

When reached for comment about Greene’s claims in the Times profile, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle noted that Greene is leaving her position in Congress halfway through her term.

Ingle said Greene “is quitting on her constituents in the middle of her term and abandoning the consequential fight we’re in — we don’t have time for her petty bitterness.”

Greene, once a staunch supporter of the president, has been feuding with Trump in recent months. In mid-November, Trump announced he was dropping his endorsement of Greene and would support a primary challenger.

Shortly after Trump declared her a traitor, Greene said she would be leaving Congress effective Jan. 5.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/grok-sexual-images-draw-rebuke-180354505.html
(Bloomberg) - Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok has created sexualized images of people including minors on the social media platform X in response to user prompts in recent days, drawing rebuke from officials such as the French government.

Grok created and published images of minors in minimal clothing, in apparent violation of its own acceptable use policy, which prohibits the sexualization of children. Some of the offending images were later taken down.

The French government accused Grok of generating “clearly illegal” sexual content on X without people’s consent, flagging the matter as potentially violating the EU’s Digital Services Act. The regulation requires large platforms to mitigate the risk of illegal content spreading.

Representatives for xAI, the company that develops Grok and runs X, didn’t respond to requests for comment. The chatbot Grok generated a post on X in response to users’ questions on Friday that it had identified “lapses in safeguards” that were being “urgently” fixed. It echoed xAI employee Parsa Tajik who earlier posted that “the team is looking into further tightening” its guardrails.

X users can interact with Grok directly on the platform by tagging its account in posts and prompting the chatbot to respond. Grok generates text and images that appear as posts on the social network.

The rise of AI tools that can generate realistic pictures of undressed minors highlights the challenges of content moderation and safety systems built into image-generating large language models. Tools that claim to have guardrails can be manipulated, allowing for the proliferation of material that has alarmed child safety advocates. The Internet Watch Foundation, a nonprofit that identifies child sexual abuse material online, reported a 400% increase in such AI-generated imagery in the first six months of 2025.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/four-migrants-die-us-ice-custody-over-first-10-days-2026-2026-01-12/

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-jerome-powell-speech-doj-investigation-11347278

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski called for a congressional probe into the Justice Department’s investigation of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, saying the inquiry over project cost overruns amounts to political coercion and threatens the Fed’s independence.

Murkowski said after speaking with Powell that the Trump administration’s actions could undermine market stability and the broader economy if the central bank’s independence is compromised. She warned that Congress must act to prevent what she described as an attempt to pressure the Fed.

The Alaska senator backed a move by Sen. Thom Tillis to block any of President Donald Trump's Federal Reserve nominees until the dispute is resolved, arguing that the stakes are too high to ignore. Murkowski said the Justice Department should face scrutiny if it continues pursuing Powell over routine cost overruns.

Spoiler alert: He's a deranged psycho with a history of needlessly escalating scenes involving suspects in cars due to his insatiable blood lust

https://www.ktvu.com/news/ice-officer-minneapolis-shootig-identified

>MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The ICE officer who fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday has been identified as Jonathan Ross, who was the same officer who was dragged 50 yards in Bloomington back in June 2025.

>What we know:

>FOX 9 confirmed Ross is the ICE officer who fatally shot Good in south Minneapolis on Wednesday. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed to FOX 9 the officer who fired his weapon on Wednesday is the same officer who was dragged 50 yards by a suspect in a vehicle in Bloomington in June.

>Vice President J.D. Vance on Thursday commented on the officer's history. He said the ICE officer "deserves a debt of gratitude," citing the earlier incident in which he was injured by a moving vehicle.

>"This is a guy who’s actually done a very, very important job for the United States of America," Vance said. "He’s been assaulted. He’s been attacked. He’s been injured because of it."

>According to court documents, the officer was part of a team that was attempting to apprehend a man in the United States illegally. He broke a window and reached into the vehicle, attempting to open the door when the driver sped off. He was then dragged by the vehicle.

>The officer’s right arm was bleeding, and an FBI agent applied a tourniquet. He was eventually transported to a hospital, where he received more than 50 stitches. Prosecutors said he had "suffered multiple large cuts, and abrasions to his knee, elbow, and face."

https://apnews.com/article/childhood-vaccine-schedule-trump-rfk-hhs-9b8df9e2767c1261aaac4e2331e77fa3

The U.S. took the unprecedented step Monday of cutting the number of vaccines it recommends for every child — a move that leading medical groups said would undermine protections against a half-dozen diseases.

The change is effective immediately, meaning that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will now recommend that all children get vaccinated against 11 diseases. What’s no longer broadly recommended is protection against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis or RSV. Instead, protections against those diseases are only recommended for certain groups deemed high risk, or when doctors recommend them in what’s called “shared decision-making.”

Trump administration officials said the overhaul, a move long sought by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., won’t result in families who want the vaccines losing access to them, and said insurance will continue to pay. But medical experts said the decision creates confusion for parents and could increase preventable diseases.

States, not the federal government, have the authority to require vaccinations for schoolchildren. While CDC requirements often influence those state regulations, some states have begun creating their own alliances to counter the Trump administration’s guidance on vaccines.

The change comes as U.S. vaccination rates have been slipping and the share of children with exemptions has reached an all-time high, according to federal data. At the same time, rates of diseases that can be protected against with vaccines, such as measles and whooping cough, are rising across the country.

Review came at the request of President Trump

The U.S. government issued a new security alert Saturday urging Americans in Venezuela to leave the country immediately, citing security concerns and the U.S. government’s inability to provide emergency assistance, according to the U.S. Embassy Caracas.

"U.S. citizens in Venezuela should leave the country immediately," the embassy said in a Jan. 10 security alert.

The warning cited reports of armed groups operating on Venezuelan roads.

The U.S. government issued a new security alert Saturday urging Americans in Venezuela to leave the country immediately, citing security concerns and the U.S. government’s inability to provide emergency assistance, according to the U.S. Embassy Caracas.

"U.S. citizens in Venezuela should leave the country immediately," the embassy said in a Jan. 10 security alert.

The warning cited reports of armed groups operating on Venezuelan roads.

The alert comes as international travel options have reopened.

"As international flights have resumed, U.S. citizens in Venezuela should leave the country immediately," the embassy said.

The U.S. Department of State continues to list Venezuela at its highest travel warning level.

"Venezuela has the highest Travel Advisory level – Level 4: Do Not Travel – due to severe risks to Americans," the State Department said.

Those risks include "wrongful detention, torture in detention, terrorism, kidnapping, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, and poor health infrastructure," according to the State Department.

The embassy said Americans in Venezuela should not expect consular assistance.

"In March 2019, the U.S. Department of State withdrew all diplomatic personnel from U.S. Embassy Caracas and suspended operations," the embassy said. "The U.S. government continues to be unable to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Venezuela."

>https://www.fox9.com/news/us-urges-americans-leave-venezuela-immediately

> Thread theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5NqO2v_xnY

> https://abc7.com/post/haul-drives-crowd-during-anti-iranian-regime-rally-westwood-lapd-says/18388519/

WESTWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Chaos erupted after a driver allegedly plowed a U-Haul into a crowd during an anti-Iranian regime rally near the federal building in Westwood on Sunday afternoon.

As AIR7 arrived at the scene shortly before 3:30 p.m., a large group of people was seen surrounding the U-Haul. Some protesters were seen smashing windows, with tensions quickly escalating.

Eventually, law enforcement at the scene pulled a man from the U-Haul and appeared to take him into custody. As police walked the man away, some protesters were seen trying to punch him and hit him with flag poles.

Eyewitness News later learned that the man allegedly drove the U-Haul into the crowd during the planned protest. Video from the ground shows the moment he drove through, angering the crowd.

The video shows the side of the U-Haul says, "NO SHAH. NO REGIME. USA: DON'T REPEAT 1953. NO MULLAH." It appeared the protesters ripped several signs off of the U-Haul.

Los Angeles police were at the scene, working to control the crowd.

LAPD said two people were evaluated at the scene but declined medical treatment. Police confirmed that no ambulances were called to the protest.

The California Highway Patrol was requested to help with traffic control, shutting down the 405 Freeway ramp on Wilshire.

LAPD eventually issued a dispersal order, and shortly before 5 p.m., the large crowd was much smaller, with only about 100 protesters still at the scene.

Nationwide protests in Iran sparked by the Islamic Republic's ailing economy are putting new pressure on its theocracy as it has shut down the internet and telephone networks.

https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-administration-freezes-some-child-care-funds-five-states-2026-01-07/
WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is freezing more than $10 billion in federal childcare and family assistance funds to California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said, citing what it called concerns about fraud and misuse.
The Trump administration has threatened federal funding cuts to organizations and states over a number of issues since taking office - ranging from alleged fraud in programs in states governed by Democrats to diversity initiatives and pro-Palestinian university protests against U.S. ally Israel's assault on Gaza.
On Tuesday, HHS said it notified the five states, all with Democratic governors, that its freeze applied to the "Child Care and Development Fund" worth $2.4 billion, the "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families" worth $7.35 billion, and the "Social Services Block Grant" worth $869 million.
In a statement, the department said the states' access to those funds would be restricted pending further review.
Democrats condemned the plan.
"Our kids should not be political pawns in a fight that Donald Trump seems to have with blue state (Democratic states) governors," New York Governor Kathy Hochul said, adding the step was "vindictive" and "cruel." Illinois Governor JB Pritzker also called the step "wrong and cruel."
California Governor Gavin Newsom's office said that since taking office, Newsom has blocked over $125 billion in fraud.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has singled out Minnesota, alleging rampant fraud is being committed by immigrants in the welfare system and in social service programs.