January 12, 2026

UGH: Vengeful Ayatollah preparing first executions of seized Iranian demonstrators as protests gain momentum & deaths mount.

Erfan Soltani, 26, was held on Saturday in a brutal crackdown by the teetering regime which has seen more than 500 protesters killed and 10,000 arrested.

t is thought he was charged with ‘waging war against God’, which is punishable by death in Iran, following his arrest in the city of Fardis, near Tehran.

Supporters say he has not been allowed legal advice and had no chance to defend himself before a verdict of death by hanging was delivered.

This is just one awful fate protestors face. They protest regardless.

Posted at 6:52 pm by Stephen Green

MAYBE BEIJING KNOWS CHANGE IS COMING:

Posted at 6:11 pm by Stephen Green

YES.

Posted at 6:08 pm by Glenn Reynolds

IRAN:

 

Posted at 5:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

WINNING: US-Taiwan near trade deal to lower tariff, boost TSMC facilities. “The Trump administration is nearing a trade deal with Taiwan to reduce its tariff rate to 15% and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation, opens new tab to building at least five more facilities in Arizona, the New York Times reported on Monday, citing three people familiar with the matter.”

Posted at 4:50 pm by Stephen Green

THE CRITICAL DRINKER: Crash And Burn – The Steven Seagal Story.

The Drinker dubs Seagal “The Great One,” and like the earlier Great One, Seagal had a sensitive musical side. The Drinker doesn’t mention that part of Seagal’s career, but fortunately, your humble narrator was honored to have been there to document it:

Click to embiggen.
Posted at 4:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

JAMES LILEKS: The truth about the Ancient Astronauts.

Erich von Däniken, popular author of a series of books about “ancient astronauts,” passed away on the tenth of January. His most famous work was “Chariot of the Gods?, a book that surely did not need the question mark. You can just respond “No,” and move on to the next subject. You probably remember his thesis: mankind was visited by aliens long ago, and they taught us things before heading back to the stars, never to return. You probably don’t know this: next Friday you can [go] to his theme park to get drunk and dance. But we’ll get to that.

I’m sure I found the idea intriguing as a kid, because these unfalsifiable conjectures fire the young imagination. Look at that ancient stone carving, it looks just like an astronaut in a capsule with a control panel wearing a pressurized space suit! Or it’s a lizard in a pot. I can’t say it didn’t happen, but if it did, it probably went like this:

The ship descends, all the humans drop the ground gibbering and bowing: the gods have arrived! Didn’t have that on the bingo card. Everyone bows down. The aliens give each other that look: every time. Always with the bowing.

“Okay, get up, we have work to do. No, we don’t want you to cut up a cow for us. No myrrh, we’re allergic.”

“Yes my lord god! I mean no. What do your greatness commandeth?”

“We’re going to build pyramids.”

“Pyramids.”

“Yes. Big square buildings with pointy tops. Here’s how.”

I’m pretty sure I saw the movie version of Chariots of the Gods — I think the film left von Däniken’s question mark off for savings — when I was a kid, but then the bar for what passed as a “documentary” was awfully low back then. (Seen at Chariots’ Wikipedia page: “Film critic Phil Hall said ‘They don’t make films like this any more, and we should be glad for that.’”)

Posted at 4:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

CRY HAVOC AND UNLEASH THE POLAR BEARS OF WAR!

Bears in SUVs in rugged conditions? Pshaw — America has been training our own cadre of beer drinking, hard riding bears for at least a half century now:

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

SAY, I’M BEGINNING TO HAVE MY DOUBTS THAT THIS MAMDANI FELLA’S INTENTIONS ARE HONORABLE: NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani quietly makes it harder for feds to monitor Tren de Aragua gang at Rikers.

Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani has quietly made it harder for federal agents to monitor Tren de Aragua and other brutal gangs in Rikers Island.

Mamdani revoked Executive Order 50 on his first day in office — which gave federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the ability to monitor the brutal Venezuelan gangbangers inside the city jail.

Hizzoner killed the initiative as part of a broad directive that repealed all executive orders issued by his predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, between Sept. 26 and Dec. 31.

* * * * * * * *

Federal agents are worried because this is the first time the gang’s thugs in the US are just 15 miles apart from their leader, Venezuelan strongman Nicholas Maduro, who’s locked up in a federal jail in Brooklyn.

“Zoran kills exec order No 50 just as we should be more focused on the Venezuelan gang in Rikers — did he know that? Does he think that the gang should have one less pair of eyes,” the source said.

I’d say that’s an exceedingly safe bet, alas:

Why, it’s as if: Mamdani’s appointees are as mad as you’d expect.

UPDATE:

Posted at 2:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

MEANWHILE, OVER AT VODKAPUNDIT: America’s Political Parties Are Dying — What’s Next?

At a Tea Party-era CPAC conference in Washington, my PJTV colleague Bill Whittle joked at an event he hosted, “It’s nice to see so many young faces at a conservative event. The average age at these things is usually ‘deceased.'”

Jokes aside, attendance at youth-oriented CPAC is down significantly since 2009, but if you want to see just how badly both parties do with younger voters these days, look no further than Gallup’s new Political Party Identification numbers.

Much more at the link.

Posted at 2:15 pm by Stephen Green