Demand Progress has amplified its campaign to persuade Americans to demand Congress support a war powers resolution “to stop the war with Venezuela” now that the U.S. has captured President Nicolas Maduro and put him on trial in New York.
Senate Democrats plan to force a vote on a war powers resolution that would terminate the use of U.S. armed forces for hostilities against Venezuela unless authorized by Congress.
“Invading a country and kidnapping their head of government without any congressional authorization is a terrifying and blatantly illegal act that tears at our Constitution. Congress must step in and stop this reckless, unconstitutional act of war,” Demand Progress Senior Policy Adviser Cavan Kharrazian said in a statement.
In November, congressional Democrats called for a vote on a war powers resolution when reports surfaced that President Trump was planning ground strikes in Venezuela.
That vote failed 49-51 in the Senate, with only two Republicans, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, joining Democrats in support.
The U.S. military operation in Venezuela was conducted in conjunction with federal law enforcement. The Justice Department announced an indictment charging Mr. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, with narco-terrorism conspiracy and cocaine importation conspiracy for their alleged involvement in international drug trafficking operations that have imported tons of cocaine into the U.S.
Think tank project explores America’s revolutionary heritage
The American Enterprise Institute kicked off 2026 with its America at 250 project to reintroduce the nation to “the unique value of its national inheritance.”
The conservative think tank’s “We Hold These Truths: America at 250” celebrates the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution with a multivolume essay series edited by Yuval Levin, Adam J. White and John Yoo. It delves into eight separate themes related to America’s founding era.
AEI has posted essays on its website about what “the contested idea of democracy meant to those who participated in the American Revolution and how we should think about the democratic ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence.”
Other essays focus on how the market economy shaped the American Revolution and the nascent nation, as well as how it eventually framed the future debates between economic dynamism and civic equality.
Other AEI scholars discuss how American revolutionaries understood their cause as a “spiritual struggle” and sought to even out “protections for religious communities with the rights of individual conscience.”
They also explore America’s founding documents and how the founding generation understood the “unalienable rights” exalted by the Declaration of Independence.
Other essays focus on how the American Revolution both prolonged slavery and established the conditions for its ultimate abolition, and how the Declaration of Independence carved out and launched abolitionist thought and politics in the 1800s.
Minnesota fraud scandal spurs calls for Medicaid audit in every state
A conservative organization that raises awareness of Islamic fundamentalism has called for an audit of Medicaid agencies in every state after evidence of rampant fraud in Minnesota involving the Somali community.
Founder and chairman of ACT for America, Brigitte Gabriel, said the fraud extends beyond Minnesota.
“To make matters worse, the damage doesn’t stop at Minnesota’s borders. In Maine, whistleblowers are sounding alarms about Gateway Community Services, whose founder attempted to run for political office in Somalia just last year. According to former employees, the company was contracted with Maine’s Medicaid service — MaineCare — to assist elderly, disabled and low-income Mainers,” Ms. Gabriel wrote in her group’s latest substack.
“Instead, according to the whistleblowers, Gateway took in taxpayer funds for services that were never provided and falsified records in an attempt to hide their tracks.”
Ms. Gabriel said Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat who is running for the U.S. Senate, decided to “look the other way” following “credible reports of Somali-linked systemic fraud in the MaineCare system.”
Ms. Gabriel went on to describe how these fraud scandals in Maine and Minnesota as “monumental failures scream for justice.” She asked her organization’s supporters to demand “immediate audits of taxpayer-funded programs in each of our fifty states — red, blue and purple.”
Trump keeps Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton on D.C. court commission
Mr. Trump reappointed Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton to the District of Columbia Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure for a term of five years.
Mr. Fitton, who has served on the seven-member commission since November 2020, said he was “honored and humbled” by Mr. Trump’s confidence.
“I look forward to my continued work with my fellow commissioners to ‘maintain public confidence in an independent, impartial, fair, and qualified judiciary, and to enforce the high standards of conduct judges must adhere to both on and off the bench,’” he said.
Mr. Fitton said the nation’s capital needs the “best possible courts, especially in light of the public safety concerns that have gained national attention.”
The Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure was established by Congress to review misconduct complaints against judges of the District of Columbia courts. Its authority includes the power to remove a judge for willful misconduct in office, for willful and persistent failure to perform judicial duties and for conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice, or which brings the judicial office into disrepute.
It may, under appropriate circumstances, censure or reprimand a judge publicly.
The commission can also retire a judge involuntarily if it determines that the judge suffers from a mental or physical disability that prevents, or seriously interferes with, the proper performance of duties.
Commission members do not receive a salary.
• The Advocates column is a weekly look at the political action players who drive the debate and shape policy outcomes in Washington. Send tips to theadvocates@washingtontimes.com.
