F-35A Lightning lls with the “Green Mountain Boys” of the Vermont Air National Guard’s 134th Fighter Squadron, 158th Fighter Wing, out of Burlington Air National Guard Base, have been told to prepare for deployment to the Caribbean to take part in Operation Southern Spear, a U.S. official has told The War Zone.

In a 31-19 vote, the Indiana Senate has decisively rejected a congressional redistricting of the state from 7-2 GOP to 9-0 GOP, in a major blow to the Trump Administration’s push for redistricting in Republican-led states across the country in the lead up to the 2026 Midterm Elections.

21 Republicans joined the 10 Democrats in the Indiana Senate in voting against the bill, a major, almost unheard-of split in the Indiana Republican Party.

President Donald J. Trump has just made a very confusing post on Truth Social, claiming to have pardoned Tina Peters, the Former County Clerk of Mesa County, Colorado, who was convicted by the state, not federal government, in August 2024 on seven of ten charges of engaging in a security breach to advance a false conspiracy theory of election fraud, in an attempt to overturn the 2024 Presidential Election in favor of President Trump. She was sentenced to nine years in prison and immediately taken into custody in October 2024. Today’s “attempted pardon” comes as the Justice Department, under the orders of Trump, has so far failed to secure her release from the State of Colorado, despite public threats against the state and its governor from both Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban is exploring how to keep his grip on Hungary regardless of the outcome of the upcoming election in April, with polls currently showing the opposition many points ahead, as Orban is reportedly toying with the idea of assuming the presidency and rewriting laws to make it into the most powerful office in the country, a prospect that he brought up during a meeting at the White House last month with U.S. President Donald J. Trump, according to Bloomberg.

As her announced resignation in early January quickly approaches, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has been working behind the scenes to gauge whether there’s support among House Republicans for a motion to remove Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House, three sources familiar with her efforts told MS NOW.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today visited defenders with the Armed Forces of Ukraine along the frontline in the Northeastern Ukrainian city of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv Oblast, which was falsely claimed yesterday by Russia’s Vladimir Putin to have been fully captured by Russian Forces.

The Trump Administration has issued a notice announcing it is ending Temporary Legal Status (TLS) for between 1,500-3,500 Ethiopians residing in the United States, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stating in a notice posted in the Federal Register, “After reviewing country conditions and consulting with appropriate U.S. Government agencies, the Secretary determined that Ethiopia no longer continues to meet the conditions for the designation for Temporary Protected Status.”

U.S. President Donald J. Trump states that he had a “very good conversation” this morning with the Prime Minister of Thailand, Anutin Charnvirakul, and the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Manet, announcing that they have agreed to a ceasefire effective this evening, adding that they will return to adherence under the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord signed in October.

A U.S. Navy E-2D “Hawkeye” Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) Aircraft, alongside several F/A-18E Super Hornets with Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8), attached to the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), are currently operating over the Southern Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela.

Footage has been published by the PryMary Unit of the Ukrainian Main Directorate of Intelligence, showing several drone strikes Wednesday against Kacha Airbase near Sevastopol in Russian-occupied Crimea, which targeted and resulted in the destruction of an 64H6E “Big Bird E” S-Band Search and Acquisition Radar for the S-300 Surface-to-Air Missile System, a Nebo-M Multi-Band Radar System, as well as an Antonov An-26 Military Transport Aircraft that was preparing to takeoff from the base, with reports of significant casualties onboard the An-26.