Source: Barron’s
“Iranians staged their biggest protests yet of an almost two week movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, chanting slogans including ‘death to the dictator’ and setting fire to official buildings, videos showed Friday. Internet monitor Netblocks said authorities had imposed a total connectivity blackout late Thursday …. AFP verified videos of crowds of people, as well as vehicles honking in support, filling a part of the vast Ayatollah Kashani Boulevard late on Thursday. The crowd could be heard chanting ‘death to the dictator’ in reference to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei …. Several videos said protesters had set fire to the entrance to the regional branch of state television in the central city of Isfahan. It was not immediately possible to verify the images. Flames were also seen in the governor’s building in Shazand, the capital of the Markazi province in central Iran, after protesters gathered outside, other videos showed.” (01/09/26)
https://www.barrons.com/news/iran-rocked-by-night-of-protests-despite-internet-blackout-videos-6d262365
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
“The evildoers are a centrally commanded paramilitary force. Yes, they’re violent wannabes who are too lazy, incompetent, or evil to find real jobs, but their sociopath bosses give them effectively unlimited funding and access to advanced weaponry. The forces of good, on the other hand, are everyday Americans (and immigrants) who’d really rather be left alone to make their livings doing productive work. No central command. No guaranteed paychecks courtesy of the nation’s tax slaves. Few automatic weapons. Believe it or not, that asymmetry can actually work to the benefit of the good guys. As satisfying — and as justified — as it would be to send these hoodlums home in body bags when they get violent, another recent incident in the Minneapolis area shows a more peaceful, and more effective, way forward.” (01/08/26)
https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20257
Source: The Fifth Column
“The Memory Hole & the Rent Freeze Trap (w/ Josh Barro).” (01/08/26)
https://www.wethefifth.com/p/the-memory-hole-and-the-rent-freeze
Source: Independent [UK]
“At least four people have been killed in Kyiv after Russia launched a major offensive across Ukraine with drones and missiles. Alongside the attack on the capital, Russia struck critical infrastructure in the western city of Lviv using an Oreshnik hypersonic missile. A total of 278 missiles and drones were fired by Russia overnight, according to Ukraine’s military, which said it downed 244 of them in flight. … Russian drone strikes knocked out power to the Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions of Ukraine, leaving more than 600,000 households without electricity in a cold snap, with temperatures in some parts of the country below freezing.” (01/09/26)
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-trump-putin-zelensky-hypersonic-missile-live-b2897290.html
Source: The Daily Economy
by Mohamed Moutii
“When the internet went mainstream at the turn of the twenty-first century, it was widely celebrated as a revolutionary force for freedom and democracy. Its decentralized architecture promised to empower individuals, expand free expression, and weaken the grip of authoritarian states. Many believed that open information flows would make censorship obsolete and repression impossible to maintain. That optimism has not merely faded — it has been decisively overturned. The same technologies once hailed as instruments of liberation are now being repurposed as tools of surveillance, censorship, and control. What is unfolding is not a sudden collapse of digital freedom, but a slow, structural transformation of the internet itself — one that is quietly reshaping how power operates in the digital age.” (01/08/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-last-generation-of-freedom/
Source: The Hill
“Israeli strikes across Gaza have killed at least 13 people, according to health officials, as U.S. President Donald Trump was expected to announce his Board of Peace to oversee the fragile ceasefire. Health officials and family members said at least one child was among the dead in northern Gaza following several strikes there as well as east of Gaza City. Israel’s army said Friday that it struck Hamas infrastructure and fighters in southern and northern Gaza in response to a failed projectile launched by militants from the Gaza City area.” (01/09/26)
https://thehill.com/homenews/ap/ap-international/ap-israeli-strikes-kill-at-least-13-across-gaza-as-trump-is-expected-to-announce-board-of-peace/
Source: The UnPopulist
by Nicholas Grossman
“The United States military captured Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, and while many reactions focus on Maduro himself, that’s mostly beside the point. His government is repressive and illegitimate, having stolen Venezuela’s most recent election in 2024, but there are numerous bad governments in the world. The most important question before forcibly removing a foreign head of state is if it will make things better. On every stated and possible U.S. goal, this will more likely make things worse.” (01/08/26)
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/trump-is-ensuring-that-his-venezuela
Source: New York Times
“Federal agents shot two people in Portland on Thursday during a traffic stop, a day after the fatal shooting of a woman in Minneapolis stoked outrage over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. A Homeland Security Department spokeswoman said in a statement that U.S. Border Patrol agents were conducting a ‘targeted vehicle stop,’ and that an agent fired a shot after the driver tried to run them over. The spokeswoman, Tricia McLaughlin, described the agents’ target as an undocumented immigrant and member of Tren de Aragua, a gang with roots in a Venezuelan prison that has been a frequent target of President Trump. She provided no immediate evidence that the person who was targeted was affiliated with the gang.” (01/09/26)
https://archive.is/CHfIz
Source: Law & Liberty
by Thomas Savidge
“‘Trump accounts’ will not stave off Social Security failure, but they could point the way to reform.” (01/08/26)
https://lawliberty.org/a-social-security-off-ramp/
Source: Gothamist
“A federal judge said Thursday that John Sarcone, the top federal prosecutor in Albany, is serving unlawfully as acting U.S. attorney and cannot participate in an investigation into state Attorney General Letitia James. U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield quashed two subpoenas seeking records of James’[s] previous investigations into President Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association. She said Sarcone wasn’t properly appointed to his position last year. ‘Mr. Sarcone’s service was and is unlawful because it bypassed the statutory requirements that govern who may exercise the powers of a U.S. attorney,’ Schofield wrote. ‘The subpoenas are quashed, and Mr. Sarcone is disqualified from further participation in the underlying investigations.'” (01/08/26)
https://gothamist.com/news/judge-blocks-trump-picked-prosecutor-in-albany-from-investigating-letitia-james
