The wedding might have been a surprise to fans, but details show that this was no spur-of-the-moment affair. Continue reading…

As we turn the page toward a new year, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) is energized by what lies ahead in 2026. At the top of the legislative agenda is the Surface Transportation Reauthorization, commonly known as the Highway Bill — a critical federal funding and policy package that Congress updates roughly every five years. This is the single best opportunity we have to advance our legislative priorities for motorcycle riders nationwide. The Highway Bill is not just another piece of legislation, it’s the framework that determines how federal transportation dollars are spent for roads, bridges, safety programs, transit, and critical infrastructure across the country. It also shapes policy priorities for the next several years and influences everything from highway design standards to safety initiatives that directly affect motorcyclists. Because this reauthorization only happens once every five years or so, the 2026 process represents our best opportunity during this Congress to embed rider-friendly policies and priorities into federal transportation law. This is a once-in-a-Congress opportunity to build lasting legislative success for motorcyclists and your engagement will make a difference. As it relates to bikers, much of the Highway Bill is written, amended, and negotiated through two key congressional committees with jurisdiction over transportation policy, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the U.S. House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure. These two committees play a central role in shaping transportation and infrastructure provisions, including highway safety, roadway funding, and other surface transportation issues. Over the coming months and into the spring and summer legislative sessions, we expect: Committee hearings and markups on surface transportation priorities. Opportunities for grassroots engagement — from contacting lawmakers to participating in advocacy campaigns. Movement on key rider issues as policymakers negotiate the terms of the next multi-year transportation package. Because the Highway Bill touches every state and every rider, it’s essential that the motorcycle community is heard early and often. The 2026 Surface Transportation Reauthorization is not just another bill — it’s an opportunity that comes along twice a decade for Congress to move many of our legislative priorities forward. We’ll be watching every step of the process closely and will send action alerts, updates, and opportunities to engage as this bill moves through Congress. Stay tuned, stay engaged, and let’s make 2026 a breakthrough year for riders. Join The MRF — visit http://mrf.org/ The post MRF: Once-In-Five-Years Opportunity appeared first on Bikernet.com - Online Biker Magazine.

Every chance Pope Leo gets, he finds a way to passively-aggressively undermine President Trump. During his weekly prayer service, Pope Leo shared he has “great concerns” about Venezuela following President Trump’s decision to launch a military operation to capture President Nicolas Maduro. The Pope added, “The well-being of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over every other consideration.” Take a look: At Angelus, Pope Leo XIV expresses concern for the situation in Venezuela, following the capture of Nicolas Maduro by US special forces: “With great concern I am following the developments of the situation in Venezuela. The good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over… pic.twitter.com/h40GRq0IiK — Catholic Sat (@CatholicSat) January 4, 2026 He also posted this to X, praying to “Our Lady of Coromoto”: I am pretty certain “Our Lady of Coromoto” is not in the Bible anywhere to be found, nor are “Saints” Jose Gregorio Hernandez or Carmen Rendiles. I am also fairly certain you should pray to “Our Father who Art in Heaven” and that we have ONE Intercessor and ONE Mediator and that is Jesus Christ, not “Our Lady of Coromoto”. You kidding me with this? This guy is the Pope and he’s praying to “Our Lady of Coromoto”? Has he ever heard of Jesus? Another Catholic doing everything they can to talk about Mary and never Jesus. Every. Single. Time. — Noah Christopher (@DailyNoahNews) January 4, 2026 The Independent reported more on Leo’s remarks: Pope Leo has expressed concern over the unfolding situation in Venezuela, urging that the nation upholds its independence and respects human rights. Speaking to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square during his weekly Sunday prayer, the pontiff declared his “soul full of concern”, adding that “the good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over every other consideration.” It comes as Venezuela’s toppled leader Nicolas Maduro sits in a New York detention center on Sunday awaiting drug charges after President Donald Trump ordered an audacious raid to capture him, saying the U.S. would take control of the oil-producing nation. The image of the 63-year-old Maduro blindfolded and handcuffed en route to the U.S. has stunned Venezuelans and was Washington’s most controversial intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago. Maduro, who wished his captors a “Happy New Year” on arrival, is due to appear in a Manhattan court on Monday. The Pope previously criticized the Trump administration over their handling of deporting illegal immigrants: Pope Leo is becoming increasingly vocal about defending immigrants from Trump’s crackdown https://t.co/CF097m5i48 — TIME (@TIME) October 15, 2025 Time reported more on Leo’s stance on the Trump administration’s immigration policies: In a ceremonial throne room at the Vatican last week, Pope Leo stood before a group of visiting American Bishops and Catholic leaders as they played video messages from migrants in the United States. As he watched one message after another from people speaking about their fear of President Donald Trump’s deportation campaign, his eyes filled with tears, according to one person in the delegation. “You stand with me and I stand with you, and the church will continue to accompany and stand with migrants,” the Pope reportedly said after the meeting, which ended with him instructing them to be more forceful in defending immigrants in the U.S. Pope Leo’s comments were the latest in a string of forceful public statements that demonstrate his increasing willingness to challenge Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown. “He just was very, you could see, visibly pained when he watched the video,” Dylan Corbett, an executive director of the Hope Border Institute, who was part of the delegation, told TIME. During the meeting, the delegation handed the Pope dozens of letters from immigrants, bishops and social workers describing their fears of the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown. Corbett, whose grassroots organization works with faith leaders to help communities along the U.S.-Mexico border, said their conversation deeply affected the Pope. “He was emotionally moved by what we told him, almost, you know, almost angry at times. Just very clear that what was happening was, you know, the church needed to raise its voice, and it was unacceptable,” said Corbett, who lives in the border town of El Paso and has previously worked in an official capacity for the Vatican in promoting migrant and refugee rights.

The Venezuelan Supreme Court appointed Nicolas Maduro’s vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, as interim President. Trump has already spoken with her and shared his expectations. According to Secretary Kristi Noem on Fox News Sunday today, President Trump delivered a blunt message to Ms. Rodríguez after the U.S. capture of President Nicolás Maduro. He expects cooperation. She […] The post Venezuela: Where the US Goes from Here appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid into the “experts” who’ve criticized President Donald Trump’s administration for forcibly removing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, saying that they were “clowns” who had little knowledge of what was really going on in the South American nation. Rubio explained the situation to NBC News anchor Kristen Welker during a Sunday morning appearance on “Meet the Press,” arguing that to leave Maduro in place would be to risk American interests and even national security. WATCH: .@SecRubio: The “experts” are clowns. Venezuela looks nothing like Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, or the Middle East — other than the Iranian agents running through there plotting against America. These are Western countries. People need to stop ascribing apples to oranges. pic.twitter.com/QeotP0YPwq — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 4, 2026 “Number one, most of the experts that people have on television —  I watch these experts, and it’s clown hour,” Rubio said. “These are people that have focused their entire career on the Middle East, or some other part of the world because that’s where all the action was.” “Very few of them know anything about Venezuela or the western hemisphere,” he continued, noting that the political dynamics in western cultures were very different than in the Middle East. “Venezuela looks nothing like Libya, it looks nothing like Iraq, it looks nothing like Afghanistan. It looks nothing like the Middle East — other than the Iranian agents running through there plotting against America. These are western countries with long traditions among their — at a people to people and cultural level, and ties to the United States, so it’s nothing like that.” Rubio said that it was no different than comparing apples and oranges — and that it was foolish to think that experts who had focused on the Middle East would have much insight into the current situation. He went on to say that the moves the Trump administration had made — and was still making — with regard to Venezuela were in pursuit of protecting national interests. “What I’m confident of is we are in a safer and better place because we’re taking it seriously,” he continued. “The alternative would have been to leave Maduro there as an indicted drug trafficker, an illegitimate president, running the country — an open invitation for all of our adversaries to do whatever they want against the United States from Venezuela. That was not going to continue.” “Read the indictment,” he concluded. “This guy used the levers of their security apparatus not to arrest drug traffickers, but to cooperate and facilitate the trafficking of drugs for the purpose of getting them into the United States.”

'Do the drugs stop coming?'

Two centuries ago, gentlemen routinely carried swords or pistols to protect themselves, their families and their property. On the unlit dirt backroads of England or colonial America, armed highwaymen like Dick Turpin could demand “your money or your life!” without warning. There was no 911. No local law enforcement or highway patrol on the roads. In colonial America, frontiersmen had to protect themselves from hostile Native American tribes, the French and wild animals—sometimes using homemade weapons. In the wild West, there were local sheriffs, and deputies if the town was big enough, but anything exceptional required the sheriff to call up a posse of armed volunteers. This changed with the advent of the police. In 1829, British Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel founded the London Metropolitan Police, which is still headquartered in Scotland Yard. The constables he hired became known as “bobbies” or “peelers” and gradually adopted the blue uniforms with distinctive hats that we know today. American towns, states and cities began to hire their own police forces in the following years. The fundamental deal was that citizens gave the state a monopoly on violence and punishment, in exchange for the state keeping them safe. But is that deal still holding? In Charlotte, North Carolina, in August, Iryna Zarutska was stabbed to death on a train by a fare-jumper who was out on bail after countless prior arrests. Her killer was walking free because a local judge didn’t think his obvious mental illness and violent past merited prison. And transit authorities, like many across America, didn’t enforce the requirement to buy a ticket. In Chicago in November, another young woman, Bethany MaGee, was set on fire on public transport by another recidivist. In December, an illegal immigrant who had previously been deported allegedly stabbed a man on the same light rail line where Zarutska was murdered. These are just three of so many tragic, preventable instances where the state failed its part of the bargain. It failed to keep dangerous, unstable people in jail or institutionalized. To enforce basic civility like having to buy a ticket to access buses and trains. To keep out dangerous foreign nationals who have no right to be here. But though murder and violent crime are the worst things from which the state has a duty to protect citizens, keeping their property safe is important too. In 2014, California passed Proposition 47, making the theft of under $950 no longer a felony but a misdemeanor. Since the police rarely bothered with such cases, thieves had a license to shoplift. And they did, with organized rings targeting specific stores and goods, and re-selling stolen merchandise in a billion-dollar industry. After a decade, even Californians had enough—they voted a new proposition in 2024 to return to saner law enforcement. Many large American cities from Chicago to New York have far-left, “progressive” prosecutors who routinely refuse to prosecute petty crime and shoplifting, with predictable results. In the U.S., stores can’t bring private prosecutions, so if the police won’t help, there is little they can do. In most big cities, police are struggling to keep up with 911 calls. Most chain stores tell their employees not to interfere with thieves. According to one union representative, that’s because the stores fear injury to employees, the thief and other shoppers—and the ensuing lawsuits—more than the cost of losing merchandise, which they can just pass on to customers. Britain has lately experienced an explosion of shoplifting, and a feckless response from police. The British Retail Consortium, a trade group, believes there were 20 million shoplifting cases in England and Wales in the first half of 2025. Official records showed only 529,994 thefts reported to police, but many shop owners don’t report shoplifting as they know the police won’t act. According to British Transport Police, thefts on the London Underground were up 33% this year. In 2024, there were 15,225 thefts across the system. The most the police will do in response is note the theft for the owner’s insurance claim. A natural response to the state’s abdication of duty has been to return to the past: If the state won’t protect you and your property, protect yourself. Even this carries risks. In New York in 2022, store owner Jose Alba was charged with murder after defending himself with a knife. In 2023, also in New York, Daniel Penny was charged with criminally negligent homicide after holding down a man who was threatening passengers on the subway. It’s a scandal when the state won’t protect taxpaying businesses and individuals, but it’s total injustice that it won’t let them protect themselves. And a recipe for chaos. ©2025 Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Originally published by ArcaMax. The post Has the West Given Up Protecting Its Citizens? appeared first on The Daily Signal.

Obamacare Was, Is and Will Always Be a Problem