Protests continue in Iran as the regime cuts off internet.

 

Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. AP.

Protests have continued in Iran as the regime there has cut off the internet. AP. A very large protest broke out in Tehran after Reza Pahlavi, the son of the deposed Shah of Iran and Crown Prince, made a call to oppose the Islamic regime. Protesters have called for the Shah's return, a crime in Iran punishable by death. Riots and demonstrations have left at least 42 people dead and thousands arrested. Cutting off the internet has happened in Iran in the past and usually happens right before a large crackdown. It is unclear why Iran hasn't cracked down on protesters yet like they have in the past, but it could be due to threats from President Trump to support the protesters if they are attacked. 

My Comment:

It seems as though the protests in Iran are gaining momentum. Having the crown prince encourage things seems to have increased the momentum even further. It would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago for people to be openly demanding a return to the Monarchy just a few weeks ago, but here we are. 

Of course, I don't know if a return to Monarchy is that much better than the Islamic regime in control now. There was a reason why the Shah was overthrown in the first place, it wasn't just the fact that they were motivated by radical Islam, the Shah was a bit of a tyrant. Obviously his son is a different person, but I don't think replacing the Theocracy with a Monarchy is going to magically fix all of the country's problems. 

In the past the Iranian regime has been very efficient in putting down these kinds of protests and riots and the article is right that cutting off the internet is the first thing they would do. Supposedly they are going to use drones to identify the people who are marching, but at this point it would be difficult for them to identify everyone in these marches, which are happening across the country. 

The real question is why they haven't done so by far, and I think the obvious explanation is President Trump. Iran has no choice but to take Trump's threats seriously. Though his critics would never admit it, he is a serious person and has been shown that he can and will take decisive military action. Indeed, in the last year alone he blow up Iran's nuclear program and then captured the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. When Trump says that Iran can't shoot their way out of their protester problem, he means it. 

Still, I think it's more likely that they will indeed try to crackdown, regardless of Trump's threats. I do think that Iran knows that there isn't much appetite for military conflict in the United States and they have to hope that Trump is bluffing. Because they are very concerned about being overthrown. 

Keep in mind that the anger in Iran isn't just because people are sick of the Islamic regime. The fact is that they lost a lot of credibility in the war against Israel that they lost. The war also had a unifying effect that is over now that the war is done, along with the war in Gaza. 

But, most importantly, the economy in Iran is in a full on collapse. When inflation is 40% each month for three months, people are going to be furious. They have a major water crisis and food is even more expensive than the inflation rate. Cracking down on protests might shut people up for awhile, but I don't how they fix any of it. If this round of protests is indeed put down, it won't matter if they can't fix their economy...   

Woman shot after hitting an ICE agent with her car in Minnesota.

 

New York Post/X screengrab.

A woman was shot and killed after hitting an ICE agent with her car in Minnesota. New York Post. Video on social media shows the woman blocking ICE agents with her Honda Pilot. Three ICE agents confront her with one stepping in front of the vehicle. The woman advances with her car and is seen hitting the officer and he opens fire, firing three shots, one of which went through the windshield and another hitting her side mirror. The woman has been identified as a 37 year old from Colorado named Renee Nicole Good and was a mother to a six year old. Her wife was on scene and took blame for the incident saying Good would not have been there if it wasn't for her. Local leaders condemned the incident, even after video of the car striking the officer came out, while the Trump administration said it was a case of domestic terrorism.

Pretty clear from this slo-mo.

The suspect actually struck the ICE agent with the vehicle.

pic.twitter.com/317CUSv4c6

— john jackson (@pvtjokerus) January 7, 2026

 

My Comment:

This is probably the most justified shooting I have ever seen in my life, and I have seen a lot of them. The second Good stepped on the gas with an ICE agent in front of her, she forfeited her life. Hitting someone with your car creates a reasonable fear for someone's life and the ICE agent was justified in firing at the woman when she hit him with her car. There is a small chance that some new evidence could show that the ICE agent is in the wrong, but the chances of that are vanishingly small. But unless that evidence is found, this is clearly a good shoot. 

Indeed, the ICE agent is lucky he wasn't hurt worse than he was. He did have to go to the hospital regardless, but in the video it's clear that the Honda Pilot was spinning it's wheels and they were pointed towards the officer. Had the wheels not spun, not only would the shooting officer been injured or killed, the officer that was trying to open the door could have been as well. 

Why Good did this is pretty much irrelevant. Some folks are saying she was panicking and wasn't actually protesting ICE at all. I have no idea if that is true or not, but it's also totally irrelevant. Someone trying to murder you in malice isn't really that different from someone trying to murder you if they are panicking. The fear of death is the same in either case. 

I don't really believe that she wasn't protesting ICE though. In order for that to be true she would have to be blocking the ICE convoy for some other reason? We would have to believe she was just that bad of a driver or something. Blocking ICE officers has been a basic tactic for the far-left and there were witnesses saying that she was the ringleader, creating a strong case for her being a protester. And, she was apparently LGBT given that she was married to a woman, making it even more likely. 

The response from the left on this case has been utterly shameful. If I was a more charitable person I could point out a few things they could be getting wrong here. The most obvious one is that they simply don't understand the laws for Self Defense. Hitting someone with a car is incredibly dangerous and more than justifies lethal force, but many people somehow believe that only being in an actively shot at justifies lethal force. It's the same argument we saw with the Trayvon Martin case, but people still don't know the law. 

They could also be confused as the first video is a lot less clear about what happened. It could be very possible that they are seeing the 2nd ICE agent, the one that goes for the door. It's hard to even see the 1st agent in that video and they are assuming that the 2nd one was the one that fired. To be fair, if the first officer wasn't in front of the car, it probably wouldn't be a good shoot, but that wasn't the case. 

Of course, I have no charity for the Democrats trying to make this into George Floyd 2.0. People like Tim Walz, Jacob Frey and Hakeem Jefferies absolutely know better. They know the law, they know that under the law this is a justifiable homicide and they also know that by saying otherwise they are risking riots and further violence against ICE. They don't care as they want this story to hurt the Trump administration and get the Somali fraud story out of the news. 

I don't think it is going to work. This case is too cut and dry as self defense and everyone that isn't a rabid partisan has seen the video of the agent getting hit by the truck. And you can't bury the Somali fraud story, it's not going away, too much money was stolen and people are far too angry about it. 

My fear though is that reality isn't going to break through to the people it needs to, liberal white women like Good. They are stuck in major bubbles and many of them have nobody in their life that would talk some sense into them. They are going to listen to the evil folks like Walz and Frey who would gladly risk further violence if it keeps them in power and out of prison. 

President Trump still wants Greenland. Can he get it?

 

File photo of Nuuk Greenland. CNBC/Reuters.

President Trump is weighing multiple options for the United States to gain Greenland. CNBC. Trump says that the United States needs Greenland for national security reasons and wants to ensure the island isn't conquered by China or Russia. He has not ruled out military force to take the island from Denmark, who currently controls the country, but Secretary of State Rubio says that Trump would prefer to buy the island. So far Denmark has ruled out giving up the territory. Trump's desire for Greenland is a long standing one but is being taken more serious now after the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. 

My Comment:

I don't really understand why Europe didn't take this seriously until the raid on Venezuela. Trump is known for saber rattling but his arguments for why we need Greenland are strong. Greenland is one of the more strategic islands in the world, it can control ship, air and missile traffic in both the Artic and North Atlantic. It also has a lot of natural resources and it would be a huge deal if America was able to take the island. 

The bigger problem though is that Denmark isn't able to defend the Island at all. Denmark is a tiny country with an irrelevant military. If Trump wants Denmark and is indeed willing to use military force, there isn't a thing Denmark could do about it. 

Of course, this actually strengthens the argument that America should take Greenland. If Denmark can't defend Greenland without the help of the United States, then they can't do so against Russia and/or China. And both countries would love to have control over Greenland for the same reason Trump and the United States wants it. It has resources and would be a boon in any war happening in the Atlantic Ocean.   

The problem is that Denmark doesn't seem to want to play ball. I understand why, like most European countries they want to act like they are a major player, even though that hasn't been true since World War II. They either can't accept or like to pretend that they aren't in a Suzerainty with the United States. 

Trump is showing that isn't the case. No matter how much Europe likes to crow about being independent, they are pretty much totally under the control of the United States when it comes to foreign policy. Why? Because at any moment the United States could withdraw from NATO and if they did Europe would not be in a position to defend themselves. 

The debacle that was Ukraine shows how true that is. Though the United States contributed massively, Ukraine has always been Europe's war. And given that Ukrain was the largest, most professional and most skilled army in Europe and hasn't been able to beat back the Russians even if Europe destroying their economies trying to arm them shows that they are not likely to be able to defend themselves once the Ukraine situation is resolved. That means that Europe is either going to have to arm up and go independent or they are going to have to give Trump what he wants. And giving up Greenland is a small cost to pay to remain under the United States. 

I'd also say that this is another example that Trump gets the fact that Europe doesn't have a long term future. I am guessing that with immigration there completely out of control and it being made up of almost exclusively military aged-males from the Muslim world, the countries of Europe will end up at war with itself before the next couple of decades are out. Indeed, before ISIS got destroyed they were already essentially at war, with terror attacks at the peak happening almost weekly. Denmark specifically seems like it's in a better position than most countries, but Europe as a whole is in deep trouble and if the EU collapses, Greenland would be left defenseless outside of the United States. 

Of course all of this is to show that the United States could take Greenland if they wanted to, not if they will or not. I am guessing that this is just more Trump bluster, we all know his playbook by now. I don't think Trump realistically thinks that using military force would be a good idea, it would blow up NATO and create a domestic backlash, though as we are seeing with Venezuela, the domestic backlash would probably be limited to progressive Democrats. He's keeping the option open as a negotiating tactic. Rubio gave the game away, he admitted that Trump wants to buy the island, not go to war over it. 

Embattled Governor Tim Walz ends his campaign for a third term as Minnesota's Governor.

 

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. New York Post/Reuters/

Embattled Governor Tim Walz has ended his campaign for a third term as Minnesota's Governor in the wake of the Somali fraud scandal. New York Post. Walz said he could win if he could focus on the race, but said he needed to focus on fraud. He also blamed President Trump and "right wing YouTubers", apparently referencing Nick Shirley. Shirley's video went viral, bringing a hard focus onto the fraud from the Somali community that has cost Minnesota taxpayers billions of dollars. Despite most of the fraud coming from Somali immigrants, Walz defended them saying Trump was "demonizing them". 

My Comment:

Looks like I was correct that the Somali fraud scandal was the end of Tim Walz and his political career. He is essentially being pushed out of the race. I can't imagine that he wasn't under extreme pressure from both the Minnesota DFL party and the National Democrats to drop out.

If Walz had won? Then Republicans were almost certain to win the Minnesota Governor's race. Minnesota is seen as a blue state but it's really closer to a purple one and I think a similar dynamic could have come into play here as it did in Virginia when Glenn Youngkin got elected. Youngkin was able to use genuine outrage over the trans bathroom scandal to get elected, and a similar candidate could have done the same thing in Minnesota. 

That narrative isn't completely dead now, but it faces a greater challenge. If the rumors are true and Amy Klobuchar is going to be the candidate for Governor than the Republicans would face an actual battle instead of the landslide they would have gotten with Tim Walz. Amy Klobuchar is fairly popular and the stink of the Somali scandal isn't going to stick to her as much as it would Tim Walz, given he was, at the very least, in power when it happened, assuming he wasn't directly involved. 

Candidate quality is a real problem though for Republicans. Mike Lindell, the My Pillow guy has declared and I can't think of a worse candidate for a state like Minnesota. Though I would prefer Lindell to win given how loyal he is to Trump, I think the GOP would be wise to run someone more like Glenn Youngkin, someone more moderate and in the center. If that happens, I think there is still a real chance of the Republicans winning the state, though probably not keeping it long term. 

As for Tim Walz, he's done. The real questions now are if he finishes his last term or if he avoids criminal charges for his role in the Somali Fraud scandal. I have always said that Walz was just too stupid to actually be involved in fraud or other various crimes but I am starting to wonder if I was wrong about that. The fraud in Minnesota was so widespread that he had to have at least some knowledge of it. And it's also clear that his party was absolutely benefitting from the fraud. 

We also have to consider that Walz was possibly personally benefiting from this fraud. Indeed, we might even have to reexamine the claims from Vance Bolter, the assassin of a couple of Democratic State Senators in the state, that Walz ordered him to do so. That still seems to be the rantings of a madman, but if Walz was involved in the fraud, it's not that much of a leap. I still think he has a strong defense, he's simply too incompetent to order a hit or be involved in fraud. If there were any evidence of him being directly involved in fraud or the assassinations, he would not be able to cover it up, he's just that dumb. 

It also boggles my mind that Tim Walz was chosen for being Kamala Harris' VP candidate. It's like they didn't vet him at all, had they done so they would have realized that Minnesota has huge problems and that he just wasn't a good candidate. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania was right there, but they couldn't pick him because he is Jewish. Walz did nothing to help Harris and may have actually been a downside given how incompetent he comes off as. 

What would be hilarious is the idea that Walz could end up running for President in 2028. I guess it's possible if ends his term without resigning in disgrace, or ending up in prison. He would have no serious chance of being the candidate, even considering the weak field that the Democrats have, but sometimes you run just in increase your public profile so you can get on the speech circuit. But that's the best case scenario for Walz and I think now the most likely scenario is that he is left as a historical footnote as Kamal Harris' VP candidate, which is saying something because she's going to be a footnote as well. 

Ecoterrorists shut down power in Berlin Germany leaving tens of thousands of people without power in winter.

 

Police and workers inspect the site of the attack. BBC/AFP/Getty.

An arson attack on a Berlin gas plant has shut down power for 45,000 homes and 2,200 businesses in Berlin Germany. BBC. The attack was committed by the ecoterrorist group Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group) who said the point wasn't to cut power but to protest the fossil fuel economy. The group apologized to poor people who were affected by the attack, but did not express any sympathy for richer people. The attack came in the middle of winter, forcing evacuations and endangering lives in hospitals which had to run on emergency power. Power won't be restored for all customers until this Thursday. Vulkangruppe has a history of ecoterrorism, with a 2024 attack on a Tesla manufacturing plant. 

My Comment:

I can't think of a worse thing to do than cut power to people in the middle of winter. Dealing with winter is hard enough when you have power and heat but cutting those things off? Just despicable. Folks will be suffering for this and there is a real chance people could die because of this. 

For context, I looked at the forecast for Berlin this week. The highs are going to be around 30, below freezing, and the lows in the mid 20's. That seems pretty warm by my Wisconsin standards, but it's still enough to be absolutely miserable if you have no real way to get out of the cold. I don't think it's so cold that pipes will freeze and houses will be damaged but it is enough that everyone that has to deal with it will be miserable. 

Cutting off power to hospitals is probably the biggest concern. All hospitals have backup generators, at least all first world ones do. But even a temporary disruption can cut off power and potentially kill someone. As it stands now, patients had to be moved to different hospitals. Thankfully, though, I am not aware of any deaths because of this attack. 

As for the group that took credit for this attack, Vulkangruppe, I have nothing but contempt for them. Cutting off power to a bunch of innocent people is not going to help the environment. Shutting down every fossil fuel plant in Germany wouldn't actually change anything. 

And these environmental groups never protest countries like India or China, which cause a massive amount of environment damage, even outside of what fossil fuels may or may not do. They don't care about the rivers both countries are killing or the massive amounts of trash they are dumping everywhere. They don't care about the massive amounts of overfishing that China is doing. They care about one of that. What they actually care about is left wing politics. 

Indeed, their responsibility claim was all about economic class, not environmentalism. They can't really explain why cutting off power for a week in Berlin is going to help anything but they do admit to wanting to cause misery for rich people just because they are rich. That's not environmentalist at all, it's just communism. 

The good news is that this attack appears to be backfiring against the Vulkangruppe. Everyone in Germany is furious with this attack, even other left wing groups. I do think that folks are just sick and tired of these environmental protests. They attempt to be as annoying and disruptive as possible and it's obviously having a bad effect on how many people support these radical causes. Indeed, if I was doing whatever I could to try and get people against a group I was a member of, cutting of power for thousands of people in the middle of winter would be at the top of the list. 

The United States Military has captured the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, in an incredible early morning raid in Caracas.

 

Smoke rises from the La Carlota airport in Caracas Venezuela. AP. 

The United States Military has captured the President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro in a incredible lightning raid on Caracas. AP. Explosions from airstrikes in Caracas were captured on video along with attacks by US attack helicopters. Maduro was successfully captured along with his wife in the raid. The attack barely lasted 30 minutes and it is unclear if there will be any further action. The operation came a week after President Donald Trump announced an attack on a drug port in Venezuela, the first attack on Venezuelan soil in the low intensity drug conflict. It is unclear who is in control of Venezuela with Maduro in custody. 

The New York Times and CNN have live updates for this story. 

pic.twitter.com/s95IpxZnSH This is an attack helicopter attack on an airbase in Caracas Venezuela. Not sure if it's an Apache or Venom, but either way, crazy video.

— Jeff H (@politicswarblog) January 3, 2026

My Comment:

 I will admit to being caught flat-footed by this operation. I had assumed we would have seen many more months of pressure tactics targeting Venezuela and a few more strikes targeting the country before we went for Maduro himself. I guess the timeline was pushed up quite a bit. 

If I was caught flat-footed, the Venezuelan military was caught totally asleep. The New York Times say that there were zero US casualties in this raid, which is incredible. Indeed, in none of the video I have seen was there any indication of return fire from the Venezuelans. No air defenses were apparently launched against US planes and helicopters, no planes were launched and there were not any real reports of gunfire on the ground. 

This was a special forces operation. Supposedly it was a Delta Force operation, though they obviously had a lot of help. The 160th SOAR "Nightstalkers", the Army Special Forces air unit, have been confirmed to be involved as well. And I would assume that the Navy helped with the bombing campaign. Either way, the rather pathetic military of Venezuela was unable to do anything about this operation. 

I do wonder if someone in Maduro's government cut a deal with the United States. It's possible that in exchange for amnesty someone ordered Venezuela's air defenses to stand down. They have a few SAM's, MANPADS and flack guns and they also have a few F-16's and SU-30 Flankers. But none of those weapons appear to have been used in this raid. Though the raid was a total surprise, it does strike me as a bit suspicious that none of those systems were used at all. It's even possible that Maduro himself was in on the deal, but that seems unlikely at this point. 

What happens next is an open question. Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodríguez was not taken in the raid and is presumably in control of the country, but who knows if that will continue. I know that Venezuela also has a major opposition movement and they may be able to take power. And I am guessing they probably will, Rodriguez now understands that what happened to Maduro can and will happen to him as well. 

What I don't expect is the kind of "nation building" mission we got stuck with in Iraq and Afghanistan. We aren't sending in huge divisions of troops, we just bombed a city and took out the leader. There were a few people that were angry that we were supposedly getting into another war, but that obviously isn't going to happen. 

I am not sure how the reaction to this is going to be. I think some of the doves in the Republican Party might be a little upset for awhile, but given the mission was a total success they won't have much of a leg to stand on. Progressive Democrats will wail and gnash their teeth and may make noise about the War Powers Act, but they won't actually be able to do anything. But I think just about everyone else will be on board with this operation. 

As for the justification for this? I guess I don't care. Maduro was a socialist and that's good enough for m. He, along with the late Hugo Chavez, ran Venezuela into the ground. Given how rich in resources Venezuela was it's absurd that they were able to do so. Maduro was involved in the drug trafficking that kills Americans every day and he's generally a bad person. 

Regardless, I have to say that I am incredibly impressed by what our military accomplished here. There were a lot of things that could have gone wrong here and they didn't. Indeed, this should be a pretty big message to both our enemies and allies that America isn't going anywhere and we still have one of the most impressive militaries in the world. 

Six killed in riots in Iran. Will anything change this time around?

 

Protests in Tehran. BBC/EPA.

At least six people have been killed during riots in Iran. BBC. Protests erupted after the economy collapsed. The Rial fell compared to the dollar by a large amount while inflation has been around 40% for the past few months. Iran is also facing skyrocketing food prices, a major water shortage and general economic chaos. Protesters have called for the end of the Iranian regime and even a return to monarchy. The President, Masoud Pezeshkian, said the regime would listen to "legitimate concerns" of the protesters, but vowed that security services would put down any threats to the regime. The protests are the most serious to hit Iran since 2022. 

My Comment:

We have seen this song and dance many times before. Iran has had major protests hit it every few years and it always ends the same way. With the security forces cracking down hard, mass arrests and eventually executions. I have little doubt that this will be how it ends this time. 

But I guess there is a chance that things will be different. After all, the economy in Iran is absolutely abysmal right now. Under Biden's four years in power we had about 20% inflation over four years and it was enough for him to be run out of the presidency, I can't imagine having to deal with 40% inflation each month since October. That's absolutely not sustainable and with the unemployment rate at 20% I would probably be protesting too. 

The problem is that Iran's security forces are still getting paid. As long as that is the case, they will be able to crack down on these protests with gusto. People aren't going to be willing to make arrests if they aren't getting paid, but if the money is there, they will crack down. If the economy gets so bad or the water situation gets worse, that could change, but right now I don't see them siding with the protesters. 

The protesters also are scattered and I don't think they have much in the way of leadership. They also don't have much in the way of international backing, though I am guessing Iran will blame the United States and Israel. Without that leadership and/or support they will have a very hard time actually overthrowing the regime. 

There is another factor too, and it's the fact that Iran has faced several major international failures, that may have eroded the regime's legitimacy a bit. First, they lost their biggest ally in the region, Syria with the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Their proxies, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen, have been degraded quite a bit as well, to the point where Hezbollah is no longer much of a factor. And they just lost a major war with Israel. Folks might argue that the war was a draw, or even that Iran won because their regime still stands, but the fact is that regardless, the country no longer has the war with Israel to motivate and unite their population. 

Regardless, I still say that Iran isn't going to collapse because of these protests. Yes, the economic conditions are terrible, but Iran has gotten very good at putting down protests, to the point it's almost an art form for them. Unless the economy completely dies to the point where the regime can't even pay their goons, or some other country tries to help the protesters, I just don't see anything changing.