What kind of tabs do you want …
The moment Iran’s state TV channels were hacked and broadcast calls by the Crown Prince @PahlaviReza to continue protests until victory over the evil Islamic regime 👇
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) January 18, 2026
Ed: This is actually impressive. It also underscores how incompetent the regime is in practice, a conclusion that became obvious in the Twelve Day War when the Israelis achieved air supremacy in just a few hours over Tehran and other strategic areas of Iran.
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DPA via Yahoo: Reza Pahlavi, the son of the Iranian shah who was overthrown in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, on Sunday vowed to return to Iran from exile in the United States.
The 65-year-old did not specify a date and it remains unclear whether he will be allowed to enter Iran and what consequences he faces as an opposition politician. …
Pahlavi said in a video message on X that the people of Iran were demanding “a credible new path” forward.
“The battle in Iran today is between occupation and liberation. The Iranian people have called for me to lead. I will return to Iran,” he wrote.
Ed: I get echoes of Charles II from this claim. Perhaps he’s courageous or foolish enough to do it, but unless he’s going in with an army, it would likely be a suicide mission. Charles II found that out, and he DID go back into England with an army. He had to wait for an invitation before the Restoration could proceed. And even then, it took another civil war to settle the issue of Parliament’s rule.
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The Left of 2026 in one image: storming a House of God and disrupting prayer to object to the deportation of murderers, gang members, pedophiles, rapists, and fraudsters. https://t.co/J7SEReX4G9
— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) January 18, 2026
Ed: That was the Left of 2025 too, in its latent phase.
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Mediaite: Don Lemon said he was not a fan of how the Minnesota pastor he interviewed over the weekend dealt with anti-ICE protesters storming his church and wrecking its service, with Lemon arguing the pastor did not handle the situation like a good Christian would.
Lemon went on the I’ve Had It podcast on Monday to discuss the chaotic scene from a day earlier. He told progressive host Jennifer Welch that he understood why pastor Jonathan Parnell was upset by the protesters ruining his service — but that he should have welcomed them with open arms anyway.
Ed: Don Lemon has the least moral authority on Christianity in practice in the mainstream media. He and the rest of the people who invaded that service should be prosecuted for intimidation and civil-rights violations. Lemon is a moral idiot, and even more, an idiot at large. For now.
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🚨 JUST IN: Over 24 hours AFTER rioters stormed a church in MN, Gov. Walz’s office finally made a half-assed statement calling for “PEACEFUL PROTESTS”
Walz HIMSELF couldn’t even be bothered to do so.
So are you going to be pushing for CHARGES, Walz?! pic.twitter.com/vnHMFzl3BR
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 19, 2026
Ed: This is weak sauce, and Walz knows it. He’s too afraid of the radical activists to whom he has been pandering to get out in front of this and discourage further assaults on law-abiding people. He’s the sorriest excuse for a leader in American politics at the moment.
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Racket News: Greg Collard: From videos, we get the sense that all of the Twin Cities have erupted. Is it business as usual in parts of the city? Are we getting a distorted view of life there?
Ford Fischer: I’ve had dinner at a handful of restaurants since arriving, and the management and servers have always said the same thing to me, which is that businesses are dead right now. Many people are afraid to go outside, fearing interaction with ICE regardless of immigration status or any kind of related conflict.
The two exceptions, so far, have been hotel restaurants and a business I won’t name here positioned close to the Whipple Building. Specifically, because these businesses are accommodating federal agents in their downtime as well as press, it would be fair to say they’ve benefited, while the economy more broadly seems to be suffering.
Ed: This is an interesting interview from an outlet without much of an axe to grind either way. This seems like a very big problem for Walz, long-term. The local economy in the Twin Cities never really recovered from the 2020 riots, and now this chaos is making matters worse. People who can move away will do so, as has been proven over the last six years. Businesses that go under now will not return.
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I’m no historian but I don’t think there’s ever been a situation in the last 100 years where the people storming the churches were the good guys. https://t.co/oGwZeQK4kC
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 18, 2026
Ed: The irony, of course, is that Walz claimed just a few weeks ago that ICE would start raiding churches and that would be fascism. So far, Walz isn’t connecting those dots with his own radical allies.
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Alpha News: Around 100 Minneapolis police officers could soon be off duty for weeks to months from an already critically understaffed police department, and just as the city faces a serious public safety crisis with protesters inciting confrontations with the surge of federal agents working in the city.
Multiple sources confided to both Alpha News senior reporter Liz Collin and to Crime Watch Minneapolis that 60 to 100 officers from the Minneapolis Police Department have applied or plan to apply for the state’s new paid leave program. The Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) program was signed into law by Gov. Tim Walz during the 2023 DFL trifecta and went into effect on the first of this year. …
The news of MPD officers applying for the program also comes following the acknowledgement in an email last week to officers from the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis that MPD morale is at an all-time low. The email detailed the “dangerously low” staffing levels causing stress and burnout, as well as political rhetoric and “inflammatory statements” from elected officials, which is emboldening hostility toward officers.
Ed: Right now, Minneapolis is already down one-third from its normal staffing level of 900 sworn officers. If another 100 go out on leave, that means they’ll be down to just over half of normal staffing. There are also rumors that some of those still on the job are considering recruitment efforts from DHS and ICE.
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Imagine the media/left/Dems if this was a mosque stormed by Nick Fuentes and his cohorts. https://t.co/4sqAq40hfj
— John Ondrasik (@johnondrasik) January 19, 2026
Ed: Exactly.
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NY Times: For the fourth year in a row, China reported more deaths than births in 2025 as its birthrate plunged to a record low, leaving its population smaller and older.
The government on Monday said 7.92 million babies were born last year, down from 9.54 million in 2024. The number of people who died in 2025, 11.31 million, continued to climb. The latest population figures were reported alongside economic data that showed China’s economy grew 5 percent in 2025.
The number of births for every 1,000 people fell to 5.63, the lowest level on record since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, according to official government data.
Around the world, governments are contending with falling birthrates. But the problem is more acute for China: Fewer babies mean fewer future workers to support a rapidly growing cohort of retirees. A worsening economy has made addressing the challenge even more difficult.
Ed: This is the result of Beijing’s one-child policy manipulations. They created a massive imbalance between boys and girls across a couple of generations, and disincentivized procreation in general – in an authoritarian state known for its brutal imposition of disincentives, so to speak. Now they are facing a population collapse, with an aging population that will suck up resources for decades to come, even if fertility rebounds. The West should learn a lessom from this, and adjust its policies to incentivize nuclear families and babies.
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Took a picture of my wife standing in front of a horse and now she won’t talk to me. 😖 pic.twitter.com/5GRoLc4x41
— Mike Bales 🫡🇺🇸 (@MikeBales) January 19, 2026
Ed: Let’s go out with a laugh. And let’s hope that Mike’s wife starts speaking with him soon.
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