US sees spike in flu cases in December, after most severe season since 2018

Not clear whether more people will get the flu this season, but more than 3,100 people have died in last year in US

The Guardian

Trump Already Knows Buildings He Wants to Take Wrecking Ball to Next

Apparently demolishing a chunk of the White House wasn’t enough for Donald Trump.

The New Republic

When It Comes to Race, Vivek Ramaswamy Is No Moral Leader

The Ohio gubernatorial candidate’s political marriage of convenience with MAGA racists lasted until it became inconvenient.

The Bulwark

Somalis in Minneapolis say they are facing harassment, threats and empty businesses in the wake of fraud allegations video

“This climate of fear is disrupting livelihoods, separating families, and undermining the sense of safety and belonging for an entire community,” Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Minnesota chapter, said of how the nation’s largest Somali diaspora has felt in recent weeks.

CNN

Latina trans women are celebrating the quinceañeras they’ve always dreamed of

Events in Texas and Mexico City are part of a trend.

LGBTQ Nation

DHS Says REAL ID, Which DHS Certifies, Is Too Unreliable To Confirm U.S. Citizenship

It’s the punch line to a bad joke that started 20 years ago when Congress passed the REAL ID Act.

Reason

How Trump Fixed On a Maduro Loyalist as Venezuela’s New Leader

Nicolás Maduro balked at a gilded exile. U.S. officials then saw a more pliant option in his vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, known for stabilizing Venezuela’s economy.

The New York Times

Susie Wiles’s Vanity Fair Interview Continues to Haunt Her

Donald Trump’s chief of staff has landed in more hot water over that interview.

The New Republic

Google AI Overviews put people at risk of harm with misleading health advice

Exclusive: Inaccurate information presented in summaries, Guardian investigation finds

The Guardian

Even Close Allies Are Asking Why Trump Wants to Run Venezuela

Nicolás Maduro was plucked out of Caracas, but the more shocking news was what the White House plans next.

The Atlantic

2025 was horrific for trans people. Here’s how 2026 could be much better.

Cracks in the Republican Party are already visible.

LGBTQ Nation

The ‘Super Flu’ Is Hitting Kids Hard—and Some Aren’t Surviving

Several states have reported their first pediatric flu deaths this week.

Gizmodo

Thousands stranded in Caribbean islands after Trump’s Venezuela attack

President Donald Trump carried out airstrikes across Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, as part of an effort to kidnap Nicolás Maduro, who had previously been voted out of office on July 28, 2024 and refused to leave. Now, visitors across the Caribbean are stranded in paradise.

Alternet

U.S. interventions in Latin America and the Caribbean haven’t always gone as planned

U.S. policy, underpinned by the Monroe Doctrine, has shaped the region in the decades since World War II, leading to overt and covert interventions that have often — but not always — resulted in bad outcomes and unintended consequences.

NPR

Humans were making fire 350,000 years earlier than previously thought, study finds

Scientists in Britain say ancient humans may have learned to make fire far earlier than previously believed, after uncovering evidence that deliberate fire-setting took place in what is now eastern England around 400,000 years ago.

PBS

The Horror of Trump’s Press Conference From a Venezuelan Perspective

This press conference wasn’t just about Venezuela. It was about whether American empire can say the quiet part out loud again, whether it can openly claim the right to govern other nations and expect the world to shrug.

Common Dreams

Myanmar’s military government releases more than 6,100 prisoners on independence anniversary

Myanmar’s military government granted amnesty to more than 6,100 prisoners and reduced other inmates’ sentences Sunday to mark the 78th anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain.

AP News

An army of 800 women protects Ecuador’s water

In the country’s central mountain range, mothers and wives are challenging domestic machismo and defending vital water resources

EL PAÍS

Pope Leo XIV calls for ‘rule of law’ and respect for human rights after US captures Maduro

The pope asked that the sovereignty of Venezuela be respected and that special attention be paid to protecting the poor in the country.

The Religion News Service

The Political Repression and Resistance of Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón, Oaxaca

This week, an interview we just conducted with Madeleine Wattenbarger and Axel Hernández of the Cooperativa de Periodismo in Mexico and Ambar Ruiz of Radio Zapote about the case of autonomous resistance and repression in the Mazateca community of Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón in Oaxaca, Mexico, so named for being the birthplace of the Cipriano Ricardo Flores Magón, revolutionary Mexican anarchist who was murdered by medical neglect by the US prison system in 1922 (check out our 2022 episode on the history).

The Final Straw Radio

Unfulfilled expectations of democracy in Latin America

If the system does not guarantee freedoms, justice, participation, and equality, other actors—often authoritarian and populist—will fill that void.

Latinoamerica21

Tense calm holds in Venezuela the day after Maduro was taken by U.S. military

After the seismic shift in Venezuela and promises by President Donald Trump that the United States would “run” Venezuela with the help of Maduro’s Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, no one in the country seemed to know where things stood or what lay ahead.

PBS

114 killed in week of attacks in Sudan’s Darfur: medical sources

Since April 2023, Sudan has been gripped by a war between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which in October seized the army’s last holdout position in Darfur.

Al Monitor

An LGTBIQ + archival boom? Grassroot archival activism and memory politics in Latin America

This article asks how and since when did queer/trans archiving, curating, and displaying material become articulated as activism in Latin America? What are the cultural and political meanings of these practices, and how do these relate to a global community archival boom?

International Journal of Cultural Studies