Within hours after the Jan. 3 U.S. military operation that kidnapped Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was on the phone with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez. Also on the call was Delcy’s brother-in-law, Jorge Rodriguez, leader of the nation’s legislature and Trump’s unofficial adviser Mauricio Claver-Carone, a right-wing Cuban-American operative.
(“Trump’s Unofficial Viceroy Shapes US Policy, Raising Oversight Concerns,” May 25, 2026, Washington Post)
The state of Louisiana’s first liquified natural gas, or LNG terminal Sabine Pass, quickly became one of Louisiana’s largest sources of climate-warming pollution, releasing more greenhouse gases than the state’s largest oil refineries.
(“The Most Polluting LNG Project in the US is Being Built in Louisiana,” The Grist, May 13, 2026)
Dan Osborn, a union pipefitter and an independent U.S. Senate candidate in Nebraska, is on track to take on incumbent GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts of the billionaire Ricketts family, who built their immense wealth from TD Ameritrade and own the Chicago Cubs baseball team. The race is shaping up to be a classic battle between working class populist values and Ricketts’ enormous wealth, which has dominated Nebraska’s politics for over a decade. Osborn came within 7 points of defeating GOP Sen. Deb Fisher in 2024 after the Democratic candidate pulled out of the race.
(“Don Osborn’s Next Fight,” American Prospect, May 4, 2026)
