There have been two parts to the political world’s reaction to the American operation that deposed and captured Nicolas Maduro. The first part was to marvel at what Brit Hume called the “extraordinary level of skill, technology and daring” on the part of American forces and leadership. Hume noted that the U.S. performance, when considered alongside the flawless attack on Iran’s nuclear program, sent to the world “precisely the opposite signal from that sent by the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

Anew year, the same questions. The turning of the calendar page doesn’t necessarily mean that the country has turned a page. Many of the same mysteries, many of the same challenges, many of the same principal actors remain – though with nuances that could not have been anticipated a year ago, when Joe Biden was in his last month, when Donald Trump was girding for a second term.

You’ve probably heard commentators say that under President Donald Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is arresting and deporting a huge number of illegal immigrants who have no criminal record. The first response to that is: If they crossed illegally into the United States, they have a criminal record. Plus, they’re still in the country illegally. Second, the numbers just don’t support the commentators’ claim. A new report by The Washington Examiner’s Anna Giaritelli notes that, “The Trump administration arrested 595,000 illegal immigrants between Jan. 20 and Dec. 11, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Candles in farmhouse windows can shine a long way on dark nights in the Blue Ridge Mountains.