Report: Iranian Protestors Take Control of City of Abdanan

Reports on Tuesday evening of protestors taking control of Abdanan near the border with Iraq (Visegrad). More: WATCH: Protestors have effectively liberated the city of Abdanan in Iran’s Ilam province. Reports are circulating of police laying down their weapons and joining protestors in demonstrations against @khamenei_ir’s terrorist regime (Israel War Room). Sounds of freedom: (X). The Hill report on events in Tehran: Protesters angry over Iran’s ailing economy conducted a sit-in Tuesday at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, witnesses said, with security forces ultimately firing tear gas and dispersing demonstrators as the rest of the market shut down. The protest at the Grand Bazaar, the beating heart for centuries of both Iran’s economic and political life, represented the latest signal that the demonstrations likely are to continue as the country’s rial currency fell to a record low Tuesday. Already, violence surrounding the protests has killed at least 36 people with authorities detaining more than 1,200 others, activists abroad say (The Hill).

Protests in Iran Most Acute in Poor Neighborhoods

Where the pain of the economic crisis has been most deeply felt. Financial Times: With living standards in the Islamic republic falling to historic lows in recent months, this sense of desperation has burst on to the streets — spiralling into the biggest round of protests in Iran in several years. But while most large protest movements over the past two decades have been built around the pro-democracy demands of the urban middle class, the epicentre this time has shifted to the poor neighbourhoods, provincial cities and towns where Iran’s economic pain is most acute…. (Financial Times).

Iran Begins Monthly Payments of $7 a Month to Most Citizens; ‘too little too late’

Desperate measures from the mullahs: Facing protests sparked by a deepening economic crisis, Iran’s government announced plans on Monday to provide most citizens with a monthly payment equivalent to around $7 (New York Times). Financial Times: So far, President Masoud Pezeshkian’s reformist government has moved to overhaul its subsidy system, replacing a long-standing policy of providing cheap foreign currency to importers — widely blamed for corruption and distorting markets — with direct household support. Under the new plan, which expands an existing scheme, all 88mn people in the country will begin receiving food vouchers from next week…. In Lorestan, the measures seem too little too late…. For Leila, the assistance feels painfully inadequate. Her family will be entitled to 30mn rials a month in food vouchers — little more than enough to buy rice, she said. “This is nothing. What about the rest of our needs? What about my mother’s medication?” she said. “I told my mum she can cry day and night. We are no longer simply poor. We are far below the level of poverty we have always lived under” (Financial Times).

Venezuela to Turn Over Some 50 Million Barrels of Oil to US

The announcement from Trump on Tuesday evening: I am pleased to announce that the Interim Authorities in Venezuela will be turning over between 30 and 50 MILLION Barrels of High Quality, Sanctioned Oil, to the United States of America. This Oil will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, as President of the United States of America, to ensure it is used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the United States! I have asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to execute this plan, immediately. It will be taken by storage ships, and brought directly to unloading docks in the United States (Truth). Wall Street Journal: Trump’s post offered the most detail to date about how he intends to make good on his promise to extract oil from Venezuela—though plenty of questions remain (Wall Street Journal).

Is Cuba the Biggest Loser After the Downfall of Maduro?

It’s clear the Russia, China and Iran have all lost a key ally and partner in our hemisphere, but the top loser may be Cuba. Wall Street Journal: The capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro—one of the Cuban intelligence services’ most valuable charges—punctured its aura of invincibility. U.S. elite forces descended on Maduro’s compound at around 2 a.m. local time Saturday, grabbing him and his wife before they could escape to a safe room, said Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Cuban government said 32 officers from its Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Interior Ministry, which runs intelligence services, were killed in the line of duty as part of Maduro’s security detail. “It’s a defeat for Cuba and denotes its weakening, highlighting vulnerabilities in its security procedures,” said María Werlau, author of a 2019 book on Cuba’s intervention in Venezuela (Wall Street Journal). Ed Morrissey: No kidding. Cuba’s forces lost nearly three dozen elite security forces without inflicting a single casualty – while defending a fortress? That either demonstrates a nearly superhuman capability in American forces, or complete incompetence within Cuba’s armed forces. Havana didn’t send flunkies to secure Maduro, after all; his oil keeps Cuba’s communist regime in business. As Donald Trump ramped up the pressure on Maduro, Havana had to have fortified its security preparations around its most important financial provider. And they not only failed in the mission, but apparently couldn’t even inflict a single casualty as the Americans plucked the Maduros out of the center of their defensive position. That is an impressive level of failure (Hot Air).

Mamdani’s Tenant Advocate Appointee Immediately on Notice From US Civil Rights Division

Mayor Mamdani has appointed Cea Weaver his formal tenant advocate, heading up the revitalized Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants. She’s a member of the Democratic Socialists of America—and a genuine Marxist radical, pushing against private property rights and towards a model of “shared equity” (Nawful) What landed her on the radar screen of Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General serving in the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is Weaver’s explicitly racist housing policy ideas. Matthew Schmitz: In 2016, Mamdani’s director of appointments wrote: “It’s important that white people feel defeated.” In 2018, his housing advisor wrote: “Impoverish the *white* middle class.”  Mamdani’s own platform called for raising taxes on “richer and whiter neighborhoods” (Schmitz). Harmeet Dhillon: Just because you’re white doesn’t mean you have fewer rights in this country. We all have equal rights in our country and we will not stand for New York City violating any federal law whatsoever. They should be on notice. They are on high scrutiny and we will swoop right in and do what’s necessary to protect all citizens and taxpayers and residents of New York where they’re legally (Dhillon).

DOJ Launches Criminal Investigation That Could Lead to Tim Walz

He may have decided not to run again, but he may have just begun his efforts to defend his negligence and culpability. Joseph Chalfant of Townhall: The probe will examine whether or not Walz was complicit in or criminally liable for the ongoing $9 billion fraud scandal, primarily involving Somali immigrants in Minnesota during his tenure as governor. “It’s a top priority for President Trump, and he believes that Governor Walz is criminally liable, and I think that the Department of Justice is going to find out,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in an interview (Townhall). Matt Margolis of PJ Media, picking up with a quote from Attorney General Pam Bondi: “You saw today, the Department of Homeland Security announced we have nearly 2,000 agents from the Homeland Security Investigations Team, the FBI is on the ground, and we’re freezing money.” She added that the Health and Human Services Department has already taken concrete steps, including cutting funding to potentially fraudulent daycare centers, and she made clear that the investigation could reach to the very top of Minnesota’s government. “Rest assured, it’s a top priority for President Trump, and he believes that Governor Walz is criminally liable,” said Bondi. “And I think the Department of Justice is going to find out” (PJ Media).

Trump Addresses GOP Retreat: Need to Win Midterms or, ‘I’ll get impeached’

Speaking at the Trump-Kennedy Center in D.C. With the economy on the mind of voters, the president addressed energy prices and the fruits of the Big, Beautiful Bill: I’m also meeting with oil companies…. You know what that’s about? We got a lot of oil to drill, which is going to bring down oil prices even further….  Your energy prices have come so far down since that president…. I saw on television, energy prices are down 3%. No, they’re not down 3 percent. They were $3.50 and $4.00. It’s now $1.99 a gallon in many stations, many stations, and it’s going down further. And that’s like a massive tax cut. And that’s the other thing: Tax cuts—No tax on tips. No tax on Social Security. No tax on overtime. Now think of this. No tax on tips. No tax for seniors on social security. No tax on overtime. You’re allowed to deduct if you buy a car and you take out a loan on the car. For the first time ever, middle income people, all people could deduct, but they never got a deduction before like this. It’s only for rich people. They got them. They have so many deductions. You’re allowed to deduct the interest against your taxes. Nobody thought it was possible…. But you got to win the midterms because if we don’t win the midterms, it’s just going to be … I mean, they’ll find a reason to impeach me. I’ll get impeached (YouTube).

Trump Eyes Buying Greenland

And downplays any thought of military action. Wall Street Journal reports on Secretary of State Rubio’s meeting with GOP lawmakers: the goal is to buy the island from Denmark, according to people familiar with the discussions. Rubio’s statements, which were made Monday during a closed briefing, come as the White House has been offering increasingly belligerent statements about controlling the island. President Trump and senior administration officials have publicly declined to rule out seizing the territory by force (Wall Street Journal). Let’s just say Greenland and Denmark are not too warm to the idea. Economist: Greenland and Denmark, and much of Europe, are in shock. A year ago Mr Trump’s threats against the self-governing Arctic territory of 56,000 people, which is part of Denmark, elicited mostly derision and distaste among European leaders. This time is different. “Enough is enough,” responded Jens-Frederik Nielsen, Greenland’s prime minister, on January 5th. “No more pressure. No more innuendo. No more fantasies about annexation.” Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s prime minister, implored Mr Trump to drop the threats, adding that they “should be taken seriously”. European countries quickly closed ranks: all Nordic and Baltic leaders reaffirmed their support for Greenlandic and Danish sovereignty, as did Britain and France. Behind the show of unity, though, there was a sense of panic (Economist). Stephen Miller: “The United States is the power of NATO. For the United States to secure the Arctic region to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously, Greenland should be part of the United States,” Miller continued. “And so that’s a conversation that we’re going to have, as a country” (The Hill).

Vice President Vance Responds to Emergent Antisemitism on the Right

A critical piece of the VP’s wide-ranging conversation with Scott Jenning on the Salem Podcast Network. Scott asked him if conservatives should “warehouse” antisemitism in any way. J.D. Vance: I think that we need to reject all forms of ethnic hatred, whether it’s antisemitism, anti-black hatred, anti-white hatred. And I think that’s one of the great things about the conservative coalition is that we are, I think, fundamentally rooted in the Christian principles that founded the United States of America. And one of those very important principles is that we judge people as individuals. Every person is made in the image of God. You judge them by what they do, not by what ethnic group they belong to. And I think that principle is important. It’s something we got to hold onto in the conservative movement because God knows the left abandoned it a long time ago (Jennings).