<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><font size="4">The today&#39;s issues group meeting tomorrow was planned for other topics, but we can also discuss the recent US intervention in Venezuela which just happened today.  There is breaking coverage in all news media. For background, you might be interested in this November20 story about a war game the US ran anticipating intervention in Venezuela and thoughts about likely consequences:  </font></div><h1 id="gmail-link-7ea5fdf" class="gmail-css-88wicj e1h9rw200" style="margin:0px auto 0.5rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:italic;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-variant-alternates:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:2.5rem;line-height:2.875rem;font-family:nyt-cheltenham,cheltenham-fallback-georgia,cheltenham-fallback-noto,georgia,&quot;times new roman&quot;,times,serif;font-size-adjust:inherit;font-kerning:inherit;font-feature-settings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;outline:transparent solid 1.77778px;color:rgb(18,18,18);width:600px;max-width:none"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/us/politics/venezuela-maduro-fallout-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.BlA.NEXo.J00PI4e5OzPU&amp;smid=url-share">U.S. Ran a War Game on Ousting Maduro. Venezuela Fell Into Chao</a></h1><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">Here is the announcement I sent out yesterday...</div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><span style="background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline">The Today\u2019s Issues group will meet Sunday, January 4, 2026, 9:30 to 10:50 am, to discuss the recent eruption of divisions within the Republican Party and the MAGA movement. The suggested reading is </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/opinion/turning-points-americafest-maga.html?unlocked_article_code=1._U8.7CxD.s2Ohdn4513aW&amp;smid=nytcore-ios-share" style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">The Strange Death of Make America Great Again</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline"> by Matthew Walter.  We can also discuss how the Democrats can respond to this given their own divisions. A suggested reading on this is </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/25/us/politics/trump-democrats-washington-midterm-elections.html?unlocked_article_code=1._k8.NMtG.YZyik7GpH2YM&amp;smid=nytcore-ios-share" style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">Can the Democrats Reinvent Themselves as Washington Disruptors</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline">? by Lisa Lerer.  A third article you might find interesting is </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/29/magazine/marjorie-taylor-greene-trump-maga-split.html?unlocked_article_code=1.AVA.7D0I.0455GpYS5wz2&amp;smid=nytcore-ios-share" style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">\u2018I Was Just So Naïve\u2019: Inside Marjorie Taylor Greene\u2019s Break With Trump</span></a><span style="background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);vertical-align:baseline">.  It is a long biographic, but the first few pages are focused on recent events. </span></div><span id="gmail-docs-internal-guid-311dec10-7fff-3e2c-8e67-e8db3b002e41"><br><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.2;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">The Today\u2019s Issues discussion group meets on occasional Sunday mornings at 9:30  in the parlor of the Religious Education building next to the Unitarian Universalist Church at 232 Third St. in Marietta or you can join us on Zoom.  </span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;vertical-align:baseline">Click on this link if you wish to join the discussion on Zoom. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.728;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><a href="https://zoom.us/j/92505235702?pwd=RmUyN1FOUjhBVHRYSDBWY2dUZWxFQT09" style="text-decoration-line:none"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">https://zoom.us/j/92505235702?pwd=RmUyN1FOUjhBVHRYSDBWY2dUZWxFQT0</span></a><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(17,85,204);background-color:transparent;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-variant-alternates:normal;text-decoration-line:underline;vertical-align:baseline">     </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.728;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><br></p><br></span><br></div></div>