Morning Update: USA Attacks Venezuela, Keeping the Epstein Files in the News Cycle and More

Our morning update today comes a little late, due to the shock of a U.S. attack on Venezuela, updating you on that attack naturally took priority this morning.

This morning, we bring you a quick review of the attack on Venezuela, along with updates from the fire that killed dozens in the Swiss Alps, an under-reported protest in the USA, and a horrific story relating to Elon Musk’s Grok.

US attacks Venezuela

In the major news of today, the USA has committed a series of attacks on Venezuela, which concluded with the kidnapping of the country’s president Nicolas Maduro, who is reportedly being held hostage on the USS Iwo Jima, according to Trump himself. Maduro and his wife have been indicted in New York, where they will likely be brought on the next phase of their captivity.

We ran an update on the attack earlier this morning, including a timeline of how the attack went down. Currently, the situation is unpredictable, and attempts to predict what may happen next would simply be wrong on our part.

USA Attacks Venezuela, Venezuelan President Kidnapped

For now, we can assume that the USA will attempt to install a puppet leader that will offer them the oil and mineral access that they have wanted.

Remaining Epstein files are more than 2 weeks overdue

The US government legally had to release the Epstein files in their entirity on the 19th of December 2025. Rather than a full release, the Trump regime released some files, while holding onto the majority in order for them to complete the redactions they say are necessary.

The files so far have not been properly redacted, in some cases leaving survivors un-redacted, in other cases allowing people to remove redactions, and horrifically, some redactions have been specifically done to protect some of the attackers identities, especially in relation to Trump himself.

It is absolutely vital that we keep this story in the news feed, given the very real chance of it being swept under the rug by the attack on Venezuela and the undetermined aftermath.

Walk for Peace USA largely ignored by US media

The Walk for Peace USA has now been underway for months, with Buddhist monks walking thousands of miles across the country toward Washington, yet it has received almost no national attention in the US media.

That absence of coverage is rather telling. A sustained, deliberate act of non-violence, one that asks nothing, sells nothing, and threatens no one in power, does not fit an ecosystem built on outrage, spectacle, and escalation. In a moment when American political rhetoric increasingly frames force as inevitable and dissent as disorder, a literal walk for peace does not fit the bill for a story that the US media would be attracted to in 2026. Like so many stories that do not serve immediate political or commercial interests, it risks disappearing entirely unless it is actively kept in view.

Grok’s child porn problem

Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot is facing serious scrutiny after it was found to have generated and shared sexualised images of children, a failure xAI has blamed on “safeguard lapses.” Users were able to prompt the chatbot into producing illicit imagery involving minors, which then circulated on X before being removed. The company’s own rules explicitly prohibit this content, yet those protections failed.

The harm on the children, enabled by a platform that has consistently stripped back moderation may result in more punishment for the controversial social media website.

French ministers have already referred the matter to prosecutors, and others are now examining whether criminal thresholds were crossed. There is no word yet on if the EU will take action, however, many expect them to swiftly make a move to punish the fascist owner of Twitter, who has already faced a host of fines in Europe. If these systems cannot be safely controlled, they should not be live, and the silence from xAI on meaningful accountability so far is becoming as concerning as the incident itself.

Cause of swiss alps fire may have been revealed

Swiss prosecutors say the deadly New Year’s Eve fire in the Alps may have been caused by so-called “fountain candles” or sparklers attached to Champagne bottles, which are believed to have ignited flammable material in the ceiling of a crowded venue. Investigators now think the sparks triggered a rapid flashover, explaining how the fire spread so quickly and left little time for escape. Authorities are also examining whether building materials, overcrowding, or failures in fire safety measures contributed to the scale of the disaster, with criminal negligence charges not ruled out as the investigation continues.

ICE detainee forced to show social media to agents

An ICE detainee has said she was forced to hand over her phone and log into her social media accounts while in custody, allowing officers to view private messages, photos, and files with no warrant and no clear legal basis. She was initially told she was being transferred, only to have her phone taken and be ordered to open her accounts for inspection before being returned to detention.

Detainees are increasingly treated as having fewer rights the moment they enter ICE custody, despite US law strictly stating that they do not lose rights upon their taking hostage. Forcing access to private social media without due process sets a dangerous precedent, effectively normalising warrantless digital searches against people who have not been charged with a crime. If this practice is allowed to stand, it will not remain confined to immigration detention, it becomes a test case for how far the state can go when it decides someone exists outside full legal protection.

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