January 10, 2026

OPEN THREAD: Party on.

Posted at 9:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

TWENTY MINUTES INTO THE FUTURE?

Posted at 8:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

MINNEAPOLIS IS NOT EVEN A CLOSE CALL — A Lawsplainer On Officer-Involved Shootings.

Just a fraction of a second later you see the ICE Officer drawing his firearm — her wheels are still straight. That’s the moment he decided to use deadly force — he recognized at that moment the fact that she was about to run him over. He resorted to deadly force in self-defense and defense of others.

That’s it.

As a federal prosecutor, if tasked to evaluate the lawfulness of his decision to use deadly force, I would have cleared him based on these four images and the video source alone. No other video produced so far does anything to call that conclusion into question.

What the driver’s intentions might have been are irrelevant. The one thing she clearly did not intend to do was to comply with the lawful orders she was given. As a result, she opened herself up to the consequences of the reasonable decision by the ICE Officer to eliminate the threat she posed to him as well as others.

Read the whole thing.

Related: John Hinderaker: Ice is Cleaning Up Minnesota.

 

Posted at 8:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

SOUNDS INSURRECTIONY:

Posted at 8:22 pm by Ed Driscoll

QUESTION ASKED: Is This Time Different in Iran?

Which may not be long, because [Khamenei] faces two threats. The one in front of him is the unpredictable Donald Trump, who has already shed Iranian blood and has promised to “rescue” the Iranian people. The one behind him is the IRGC, which holds all the firepower in Iran and which knows—as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad knew—that the mullahs are despised by nearly the entire population. They are unlikely to lay down their guns or give up the 40% of the Iranian economy they control. They are led by Ahmad Vahidi, an internationally sanctioned terrorist.

“Terrorists are assholes” was a wise saying of one of my counterterrorist colleagues at the CIA. She didn’t just mean that terror plots ruined our weekends and sleep schedules. She meant that terrorists are psychopathic, disloyal, and venal creatures who could and did mistreat each other and turn against each other. The top ranks of the IRGC are full of them.

What might lead the IRGC to sideline or overthrow Khamenei and his weak president, Masoud Pezeshkian? Two kinds of strikes: an anti-regime blow from the United States, or the labor variety that would shut down Iran’s energy sector. If both occur, my money is on a coup, and goodbye mullahs.

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 6:55 pm by Ed Driscoll

“UH-OH, THAT’S NOT GOOD”: As a reasonably experienced litigator, I can tell you I’ve researched enough cases where an “informant” or “source” was paid. That tends to be a credibility bomb.

In McCoy v. Hearst Corp., for example, Lowell Bergman (of “60 Minutes” and “The Insider” fame) was sued in libel for relying on a convict-source to whom he allegedly promised free legal help on his own appeal in return for telling him bad things about a local prosecutor.

The lower court was somewhat incredulous, asking what wouldn’t a convicted prisoner say to a reporter to get something. (Duh).

The judgment against Bergman was overturned on other grounds.

So, that brings us to Jack Smith. Just the News published a bombshell this morning: “Jack Smith team approved $20k payment to informant to snitch on Trump team during Arctic Frost probe.”

I can just imagine in my fevered, crazy, right-wing lunatic brain that believes in the rule of law, Biden’s people saying: “So? We paid him. That doesn’t mean he was lying.”

Posted at 6:39 pm by Charles Glasser

IT’S TRUE. MUSLIMS IN PERSIA WERE LITERAL SETTLER COLONIALISTS.

As they were throughout nearly all of the middle east and North Africa.

Posted at 5:48 pm by Glenn Reynolds

IRAN: Why Images Of Iranian Women Lighting Cigarettes With Khamenei’s Photo Are Going Viral.

A striking new protest trend involving Iranian women is rapidly spreading across the global internet, drawing attention to rising unrest inside Iran. Viral videos show women lighting cigarettes by burning photographs of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an act widely seen as an open challenge to the country’s political and religious authority.

The trend has gained momentum on social media platforms such as X, Instagram, Reddit and Telegram, with clips being shared and reposted thousands of times worldwide. Observers say the practice has become a powerful symbol of defiance and is increasingly difficult for authorities to contain, even as Iran tightens controls on dissent.

Burning the image of the Supreme Leader is considered a serious offence under Iranian law. By combining this act with smoking, an activity long restricted or discouraged for women, the protesters appear to be deliberately rejecting both state power and strict social rules, including mandatory hijab enforcement and limitations on women’s personal freedoms.

But will it awaken western feminists?

UPDATE:

Posted at 5:30 pm by Ed Driscoll

IRAN PROTESTS: Trump warns Khamenei that US ‘stands ready to help.’

Hundreds of people are feared to have been killed as the Iranian regime launched a fierce crackdown in response to the biggest wave of protests it has faced in years.

Security forces loyal to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, appear to have used the cover of a country-wide internet and phone blackout, which has been in place since Thursday, to open fire on opponents, leaving medical facilities overwhelmed.

On Saturday evening President Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”

In some areas regime forces are said to have entered hospitals to arrest injured protesters and to order medical staff not to treat the wounded. One doctor, who did not want to be identified, said six hospitals in the capital, Tehran, had collectively recorded at least 217 deaths on Thursday night alone. The figure could not be independently verified.

The Washington-based Human Rights Activist News Agency put the protest death toll at 72 on Saturday night. That tally only included victims who had been officially identified.

Related: Ayatollah’s power may collapse in less than a week as Iran’s street protests expand.

Earlier:

Posted at 5:15 pm by Ed Driscoll

ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY:

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll