Infrastructure can be built under freedom because freedom disciplines action. Under coercion, it becomes theater.

Comedy Central’s Ronny Chieng is The Daily Show’s first host-of-the-week for 2026, and he got off to a rough start on Tuesday when he declared that in the aftermath of the capture of Nicolas Maduro that the American people are being told that “they are now the Evil Empire.” Chieng began by questioning the legality of the operation, “The world is still in shock over Donald Trump's surprise DoorDash-ing of Nicolas Maduro to Brooklyn. And he didn't even tip! And I have to say, I did not see this Venezuela thing coming. And I read the news every day. So the lesson here is, reading is pointless. But now Maduro will face justice in the best legal system in the world that we illegally kidnapped him to.” He then introduced a brief clip of ABC’s Aaron Katersky, “And it all began yesterday morning when he showed up to court. And if this isn't Iraq all over again, why are they reusing Saddam Hussein's courtroom sketches? Let's see how his first day went.”     In the clip, Katersky reported that “Maduro greeted spectators in the courtroom, saying, ‘Buenos dias.’" For Chieng, this was a good move, “’Buenos dias,’ smart legal strategy by Maduro. If he speaks Spanish, ICE might bust in and deport him back to Venezuela just out of habit.” Later, Chieng played another clip, this time of White House advisor Stephen Miller telling CNN’s Jake Tapper, “Damn straight we did” capture Maduro. Chieng responded by breaking out his Miller impression, “’Damn straight we did! I can swear whenever I want. I don't give a dick-shit what my parents say, bitch!’ Listening to this guy talk is like if Nazis took helium instead of meth.” As for the substance, Chieng added, “But still, this is a big change for Americans. They are now being told that their view of themselves as a benevolent force for good is gone, and they are now the Evil Empire. And as we look at this photo of a foreign leader in our custody, every American has to decide how to respond in this moment.” Chieng then moved on to the bizarre trend that is seeing the Nike tracksuit Maduro wore on the flight to the U.S. being sold out on Nike’s website. However, the evocation of “the Evil Empire” naturally brings to mind President Reagan’s description of the Soviet Union. If Chieng is asking Americans to compare the capture of a man indicted on federal drug trafficking charges who ran an organized crime syndicate masquerading as a country to the USSR, it is not going to end well for him because most Americans, unlike Stephen Colbert, do not have nice things to say about the Soviet Union. Here is a transcript for the January 6 show: Comedy Central The Daily Show 1/6/2026 11:01 PM ET RONNY CHIENG: The world is still in shock over Donald Trump's surprise DoorDash-ing of Nicolas Maduro to Brooklyn. And he didn't even tip! And I have to say, I did not see this Venezuela thing coming. And I read the news every day. So the lesson here is, reading is pointless. But now Maduro will face justice in the best legal system in the world that we illegally kidnapped him to. And it all began yesterday morning when he showed up to court. And if this isn't Iraq all over again, why are they reusing Saddam Hussein's courtroom sketches? Let's see how his first day went. AARON KATERSKY: Maduro greeted spectators in the courtroom, saying, "Buenos dias." CHIENG: "Buenos dias," smart legal strategy by Maduro. If he speaks Spanish, ICE might bust in and deport him back to Venezuela just out of habit. … CHIENG: [Stephen Miller voice] "Damn straight we did! I can swear whenever I want. I don't give a dick-shit what my parents say, bitch!" Listening to this guy talk is like if Nazis took helium instead of meth. But still, this is a big change for Americans. They are now being told that their view of themselves as a benevolent force for good is gone, and they are now the Evil Empire. And as we look at this photo of a foreign leader in our custody, every American has to decide how to respond in this moment.

If the US annexes Greenland, NATO will have failed in one of its core purposes: to maintain the territorial status quo while outsourcing Europe's defense spending to the US taxpayer.

Contrary to what most Americans seem to think. the essence of the Monroe Doctrine was a firm declaration to oppose European colonization of the Americas.

Everyone can easily see that the so-called "independent fact-checkers" work hand in glove with the so-called "mainstream media" in targeting Republicans as the people no one should trust in positions of power. Both groups preposterously claim that they are "fact-based" outlets that hold all sides accountable.  On New Year's Eve, PolitiFact Executive Editor Katie Sanders appeared on the PBS News Hour. The PBS-PolitiFact partnership underlines our point about their mutual goals. When PBS interviewer Lisa Desjardins asked Sanders about allegations of bias, she denied that was a fact.  But a NewsBusters analysis of all the "Truth-O-Meter" ratings of elected or appointed officials in 2025 showed a dramatic tilt, as we've reported all year. From January 1 through December 31, Republicans were deemed "Mostly False" or worse in 124 of 146 fact checks (84.9 percent). The Democrats were tagged as "Mostly False" or worse in just 17 of 49 checks (34.6 percent).  So if you compare the numbers of "False" warnings, the party breakdown is 124 to 17, or 7.3 to 1. The number of checks are roughly 3 to 1.  But notice who PBS cites as the source of bias allegations: not the public, not conservatives in general, but Trump himself, because they believe Trump is the least credible critic of media bias, since he is their Public Enemy No. 1:  LISA DESJARDINS: Now, you are aware that there is a conversation coming from President Trump about whether there is media bias against him. He says that there is. And most of your claims here that you have looked at or that you say are lies or falsehoods are from the Trump administration and others in power. How do you gut-check yourself to make sure that you're not biased or you're not being fed a narrative that you're following? KATIE SANDERS: We check ourselves a few ways. We check both sides of the political debate. There were examples of Democratic officials, Hakeem Jeffries, Governor J.B. Pritzker in Illinois, who were on our readers choice ballot for saying some things that were clearly false. So we call it both ways. They did put claims from the left on their list -- four of the 12 selections -- and all four came on the bottom of the readers' poll. The readers are overwhelmingly liberal: they chose Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu denying there's starvation in Gaza as the number-one lie, followed by seven checks on Republicans.  Sanders also tried to claim they show restraint in checking Trump (since their liberal readers inundate them with pitches):  SANDERS: And I would just say, as the editor of PolitiFact, we receive a number of pitches from what the Trump administration is saying on a daily basis. And we're very selective in what we choose to pursue. We can't get to everything. But Trump drew 63 fact checks in 2025, and 58 of them were "Mostly False" or worse (92 percent). The other five were "Half True" ratings, meaning he was rated "True" or "Mostly True" on exactly zero occasions.  Even vice presidents prove the tilt. Vice President J.D. Vance was pinned as "Mostly False" or worse 89 percent of the time (eight out of nine), while Vice President Kamala Harris in her first year was only 50/50 (two of four). Sanders will admit between the lines that there's an imbalance here in volume, but believes it's fully justified:   SANDERS: And so I think there is a serious volume difference coming from the White House and other places, but we have been covering President Trump as a candidate or an official for a decade. And so that's not very different from our experience.  This is why they decided to call 2025 the "Year of the Lies" instead of offering their traditional selection of "Lie of the Year." They're mourning Trump's return to power with that complaint.

America has declared Latin America to be in the USA's sphere of influence. Yet American "elites" also pretend that the idea doesn't exist if any other country invokes it.