You're listening to Breakpoint this week, where we're talking about the top stories of the week from a Christian perspective.

Today we're going to talk about the U.S. operation in Venezuela. We're also going to talk about the swearing in of New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani.

We have a lot to get to this week. We're so glad you're with us. Stick around.

Welcome to Breakpoint this week.

From the Colson Center for Christian World View, I'm Maria Bear, alongside John Stone Street,

president of the Colson Center. John, we've got to start this week with Venezuela. Most of our listeners will know the details at this point on the second the U.S. issued a military strike, essentially capturing the

man who claimed to be president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. He's been in power there for many

years now and has presided over a tyrannical state of government, which is, I will call a transgender

socialist government because they pretend that that's what they

set up and that, of course, always devolves into tyranny. The U.S. has captured him and brought him to

New York to face legal charges related to drug trafficking and other illegal activities.

This is huge news. It's big political news, which is not necessarily

our lane. It's big international kind of geopolitical news. It's definitely been a cultural touch

point this week. Interestingly, there have been a lot of protests in the United States against it

and a lot of Latin American people celebrating it.

So how do you want to start here?

Well, you know, I think just because Trump did it doesn't make it bad and just because

the Venezuelans are happy that Maduro has been ousted, which many of them seem to be,

that doesn't make it a justifiable action on behalf of the Trump administration as well. And that

kind of is where it becomes a difficult thing to analyze. We're talking about categories ethically of

just war. And this was a bold action. Now, I think there's a couple things worth saying,

number one, is that Venezuela was once one of the

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