Any resistance to Trump is worth noting.

Senate unanimously approves installing Jan. 6, 2021 plaque

The move comes after years of political squabbling over a plaque honoring law enforcement officers who protected the Capitol that day.

The Senate unanimously approved a measure Thursday to display an existing plaque honoring the officers who protected the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.

Congress passed a law in March 2022 mandating the plaque, but years later it has yet to be installed. Speaker Mike Johnson has argued the project is “not implementable,” and the Justice Department has maintained in litigation that an existing plaque does not comply with the law because it lists the departments who responded, not the individual officers.

The measure on Thursday, led by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), sought to address the long-running political squabble.

“On January 6, 2021, courageous law enforcement officers from the United States Capitol Police and other agencies risked their lives to defend the United States Capitol and protect Members of Congress and their staff,” Tillis said in a statement. “Prominently displaying this plaque in the United States Senate ensures their heroism and sacrifice are properly recognized.”

It’s not clear when the Senate will install the plaque, which will remain in the Senate until a permanent location is identified on the west front of the Capitol. The resolution does not need to be approved by the House.

The stark moment of bipartisanship came just after the 5-year anniversary of the Capitol attack was marred by political bickering. The White House published a website to rebut the narrative of the riot filled largely with false information, and Republicans continued to villainize the previous Democratic-led Jan. 6 committee that investigated the attack in its aftermath.

At the beginning of his second term, President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly downplayed and mischaracterized the attack, pardoned those who took part in the riot, including some convicted of violent offenses. (Politico)

Big Oil told Trump no. They don’t want Venezuelan oil.

We won’t forget.

Another reason we will fight like hell to make sure J.D. Vance is never President of the United States.

Catholic Paper Calls JD Vance a Moral Stain for ICE Victim Smear

A National Catholic Reporter op-ed says the vice president’s Catholicism is “little more than a political prop.

A leading Catholic paper has branded JD Vance a “moral stain” and accused the vice president of having a “twisted and wrongheaded view of Christianity” for his comments on a woman killed by ICE.

Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother, was shot three times in her car by a federal officer carrying out immigration raids on Jan. 7. Vance, 41, who identifies as Catholic, has since joined the government’s push to brand Good a “domestic terrorist” who tried to run the officer over, calling her death “a tragedy of her own making.”

In a blistering op-ed column on Thursday, the National Catholic Reporter accused Vance of “justifying” Good’s killing, saying his comments are “a moral stain on the collective witness of our Catholic faith.”

The outlet’s digital editor John Grosso wrote: “In times past, a politician might offer thoughts and prayers, encourage those reacting to wait for the full results of the investigation and generally try to lower the temperature. A leader might take the opportunity provided by a fresh day to soothe the broken heart of a nation.“

But, Grosso added, “JD Vance went in a different direction.”

Good, 37, a U.S. citizen, was killed when an ICE officer fired into her SUV on a residential street in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Multiple videos show agents shouting conflicting orders at her before one officer moved toward the driver’s door and another stood in front of the vehicle and opened fire as it rolled forward.

The Trump administration quickly framed the killing as an “act of domestic terrorism,” with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem alleging that Good had “weaponized her vehicle” and Trump claiming she “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer.” Local officials who reviewed the footage, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have called that version of events “garbage.”

Undeterred, Vance went even further. In posts on X and in a White House briefing, he argued that Good’s death was “a tragedy of her own making” and that she was part of “a broader left-wing network to attack” ICE officers.

In response, Grosso wrote: “As a Catholic, Vance knows better than to peddle this brand of gaslighting and agitation. Vance knows that only God can take life. Vance knows that protesting, fleeing or even interfering in an ICE investigation (which there is no evidence that Good did) does not carry a death sentence. Vance knows that lying and killing are sins.”

But, Grosso added, “He doesn’t care. Vance’s twisted and wrongheaded view of Christianity has been repudiated by two popes.”

Suggesting that Vance’s Catholicism “seems to be little more than a political prop, a tool only for his career ambitions and desire for power,” Grosso said: “The vice president’s comments justifying the death of Renee Good are a moral stain on the collective witness of our Catholic faith. His repeated attempts to blame Good for her own death are fundamentally incompatible with the Gospel. Our only recourse is to pray for his conversion of heart.”

The critique is part of the latest episode in the long-running tension between Vance and the Vatican over the Trump administration’s hardline immigration crackdown. In 2025, Pope Francis skipped an official meeting with Vance at the Vatican, sending Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin instead to deliver a lecture on compassion and migrant rights, before granting the vice president only a brief Easter greeting the next day.

Francis’ final months were marked by increasingly sharp rebukes of Trump-era mass deportations, which he called a “disgrace” and “not Christian,” and by a behind-closed-doors dressing-down of Vance over the White House’s treatment of migrants shortly before the pontiff died at 88.

His successor, Pope Leo XIV, 69, has also seemed to distance himself from the Trump immigration agenda. When Vance led the U.S. delegation to Leo’s inaugural Mass in Rome last year, the new pope greeted him briefly in public but held private meetings that day with Ukraine’s president and Peru’s president instead.

A longer sit-down with Vance followed a day later, but the Vatican’s statement on it emphasized humanitarian concerns and “current international issues,” which was interpreted as a subtle signal of disagreement.

Outside Rome, Catholic criticism of the administration’s immigration campaign has intensified. An essay on the Letters From Leo website this week declared that Trump’s renewed crackdown—“championed by our nominally Catholic Vice President JD Vance”—has “inflicted mounting inhumanity,” and said the policies have drawn “scathing rebukes from two popes and the vast majority of bishops.”

The Daily Beast has contacted Vance’s office for comment. (The Daily Beast).

One more thing

In case you were wondering about Trump taking the Nobel Peace Prize from Maria Corina Machado, the Opposition Leader from Venezuela who was honored with it on December 10th.

Let’s keep the record straight.

Two of our leaders denounced Hamas and those who support Hamas, as they should.

The Olympics start on February 6.

Meet Illia Malinin, the American man who may be the greatest male skater of all time, beautiful to see.

Even though Trump is still in the White House, I hope watching Illia skate will make you happy for a time.👇

See you on Tuesday. We all need a break.