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Ex-CIA Analyst: Neocons Prematurely Celebrate Over Protests In Iran

Western media, especially those outlets firmly aligned with the neoconservative view, are quick to jump on reports of protests in Iran as a sign that the Islamic Republic of Iran is about to implode. Events today in Iran provided another spurt of arousal among neocons longing to bring back the Shah and eliminate the mullahs.

Here’s a summary of the various news reports:

On December 30, 2025, protests in Iran entered their third day, spreading from initial economic grievances in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar to universities and multiple cities across the country. Triggered by the Iranian rial plunging to record lows (around 1.38–1.42 million to the USD) and inflation hitting 42.2–42.5%, demonstrations began with shopkeepers and merchants striking and closing businesses, evolving into broader anti-government chants.

Protests expanded beyond Tehran to cities including Isfahan, Shiraz, Mashhad, Hamadan, Karaj, Qeshm, Malard, Kermanshah, and Yazd. University students joined on Tuesday, chanting slogans like “Death to the dictator” (referring to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei), calls for freedom, and pro-monarchy references (e.g., “Long live the Shah” or “Rest in peace Reza Shah”).

President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged “legitimate demands,” instructed the interior ministry to dialogue with protest representatives, and pledged economic reforms. The central bank governor resigned, replaced by Abdolnasser Hemmati. Officials offered talks but warned against escalation or foreign exploitation.

Hmmm… What’s really going on? Turns out that Nima Alkorshid, the host of Dialogue Works, is on an extended family vacation in Tehran. It has been 12 years since he was last in Iran. I know one thing for certain… His mom is thrilled to have her son, his wife and her grandchildren in Tehran. Anyway, I called Nima and asked him what he was seeing.

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Britons Are Beginning To Admit It: Their Beloved National Health Service Is Broken

The day after the United Kingdom’s general election last year, newly appointed Labour Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting proclaimed that Britain’s socialized health care system was “broken.”

Streeting’s statement, while certainly correct, would have been political suicide just a few years ago. Criticism of the National Health Service (NHS) has long been seen as heretical. As in other religions, heretics were judged not on the merit of their criticism, but on the mere fact that they dared challenge received wisdom. As former Conservative chancellor Nigel Lawson put it in 1992, “The National Health Service is the closest thing the English have to a religion.”

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, we were encouraged to stand outside our homes and “clap for the NHS” every Thursday. Some overly excited clappers even decided that wasn’t quite enough to show their adoration for our health care system, and so out came the pots, pans, spoons, and other kitchen utensils.

Criticism of the NHS has remained extremely taboo. When I suggested in 2023 that the NHS was perhaps not the best health care system in the world, the left-wing tabloid paper The Mirror ran two stories about my “shocking” views. I even received death threats.

And yet, in just a few years, the Overton window appears to have shifted. The idea that the NHS isn’t the world’s best health care system is becoming more and more politically acceptable. Recent polling by YouGov suggests that more Brits now believe the NHS provides worse health care than other European countries, with the percentage increasing from 16 percent in 2019 to about 27 percent in 2025. The British Social Attitudes survey shows that, in 2024, just one in five adults (21 percent) were “very” or “quite” satisfied with the way the NHS runs. This is a steep decline of 39 percentage points since 2019, and marks the lowest level of satisfaction recorded since the survey began in 1983.

Perhaps the various high-profile stories of shockingly poor NHS treatment have driven some of this change. Nowhere is this more striking than in the Lucy Letby case.

Letby, a 35-year-old NHS nurse, was convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others at the Countess of Chester Hospital from June 2015 through June 2016. Her prosecution was subject to countless debates, with many people claiming she was actually innocent. Leading the media defence of Letby was journalist Peter Hitchens, who claims the babies were not murdered but died because they were “already very ill and received inadequate treatment.”

How can we not tell the difference between serial baby murder and normal NHS care?

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Zelensky Appoints Spy Chief Budanov as Head of Presidential Office, Replacing Corruption Suspect Yermak

The choice of Budanov means the war will escalate.

The Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky appointed today (2) the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, to the powerful and prestigious job of chief of staff.

Here on TGP we have been following the role of Budanov in the war, since June 2023, with: Ukrainian Head of Intelligence Is Missing – General Budanov Hasn’t Been Seen in 17 Days – Russian Media Says He Was Wounded, Evacuated to Germany – Kiev Denies, Putin Confirms Attack on GRU Headquarters.

The war has been hard on him, as we learned in Ukrainian Spy Chief Budanov’s Wife, Marianne, Reportedly Hospitalized for Heavy Metal Poisoning.

He is a choice for escalation as we can see here: Ukrainian Top Spy Budanov Brags About Many Failed Assassination Attempts Against Russia’s Putin.

He was more optimistic about the peace than many: While the Zelensky Regime Throws a Tantrum Over Trump, Ukrainian Top Spy Budanov Says a Ceasefire With Russia Will Happen This Year.

And finally, he was reportedly an enemy of his fired predecessor Andriy Yermak: KIEV REGIME INFIGHTING: Zelensky’s ‘Grey Eminence’ Yermak Is on a Power Grab, Trying To Replace Top Ukrainian Spy Budanov – White House Brands Him ‘A Liability’ Linked to Hunter Biden.

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Virginia’s Deep State Deepens Under Spanberger

Virginia’s Democratic Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger has displayed incredible audacity with her nomination of Stanley Meador to be the next Virginia secretary for public safety and homeland security. The choice provides a jarring indication of the radical agenda that Spanberger, a former CIA agent, intends to pursue in her administration. Stanley Meador was the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI’s Richmond, Virginia, office that issued the infamous FBI memo targeting “radical-traditionalist Catholics.”  

In June, Meador was one of many agents fired, demoted, or put on leave by new FBI Director Kash Patel. The New York Times rushed to their defense, of course, characterizing the dismissals as “retaliation” and “politicization” of the Bureau. The Times story on June 5, 2025 claimed that the agents were targeted on an “enemies list” of FBI employees who were being purged for not being personally loyal to Donald Trump. Here are the opening paragraphs of the Times story, titled “As Ousters Continue, F.B.I. Singles Out Employee Over Friendship With Trump Critic:

The F.B.I. has targeted another round of employees who ran afoul of conservatives, forcing out two veteran agents in Virginia — one of whom is friends with a critic of President Trump — and punishing another in Las Vegas, according to several people familiar with the matter.

Two of the men, Spencer Evans and Stanley Meador, are senior agents who ran F.B.I. field offices in Las Vegas and Richmond, Va. The third, Michael Feinberg, a top deputy in the Norfolk, Va., office, had ties to a former agent whom Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, identified in his book as part of the so-called deep state.

The moves add to the transfers, ousters and demotions that have rippled across the F.B.I. as Mr. Patel and Dan Bongino, his No. 2, promise to remake the country’s premier law enforcement agency. The wave of changes, current and former agents say, amount to little more than retaliation, underscoring what they describe as the politicization of the F.B.I. as its leaders seek to mollify Mr. Trump’s supporters.

Naturally, the Times’ spin purposely ignores the facts concerning the agents’ egregious actions, including their participation in the illegal, unconstitutional, and immoral weaponization of the FBI against President Donald Trump and his advisors, appointees, and supporters. More on that down below, but first, back to Governor-elect Spanberger.

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NYPD Found Box of Abandoned Police Uniforms Just Days Before Mamdani Was Sworn In

The discovery might have been uniforms, but the theories about it are all over the map.

New York City police are investigating just how a box full of NYPD blues showed up abandoned this week near a cemetery in Brooklyn, according to the New York Daily News.

The fact that it occurred only days before the infamously anti-police Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani was sworn in only added fuel to the fire.

According to the newspaper, the box was reported by a 911 caller about 8:40 p.m. Tuesday.

Video posted to social media showed police officers combing through the clothing, which was eventually moved to the 66th Precinct station for safety, the New York Daily News reported.

Authorities are trying to establish just how the unusual find came about, but that didn’t stop online speculation.

Some users of the social media platform X suggested it was a sign of upcoming resignations from police who don’t want to serve under a Mamdani administration.

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$39.7 MILLION LAWSUIT: J6er and Chicago Election Expert SUES U.S. Government Over Jan. 6 “Lawfare,” Pre-Dawn FBI Raid, and Political Retaliation

A federal civil-rights and tort lawsuit has been filed in Chicago, accusing the Biden-era Department of Justice and FBI of weaponizing law enforcement against an independent election-integrity advocate, using excessive force, retaliatory prosecution, and coordinated media smears tied to January 6 narratives.

Lawrence J. Ligas, a longtime grassroots election expert and independent voter, has filed a $39.7 million pro se federal lawsuit against the United States and individual federal actors over his January 6 prosecution and a pre-dawn FBI raid on his home.

The case, Ligas v. United States of America, et al., was filed December 29, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and assigned to Robert W. Gettleman.

Ligas alleges excessive force, retaliatory charging, and coordinated reputational harm — all, he says, to silence an independent who refused to echo the government’s preferred story about Donald J. Trump and January 6.

According to the complaint, Ligas traveled to Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021 as an independent observer interested in election transparency, not as part of any group.

He maintains he did not storm the Capitol, did not breach barricades, and did not engage in violence or property damage.

Ligas alleges prosecutors attempted to coerce a plea that would have required him to falsely blame President Trump and claim Trump asked him to be “front and center” on January 6.

When he refused and asserted his right to trial, Ligas says the DOJ added a new felony obstruction charge — a move he characterizes as punishment for non-cooperation.

He further notes his criminal case was dismissed with prejudice by a D.C. judge — vindication he says came from the court, not from a political pardon.

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Nicolas Maduro and Wife Indicted in Southern District of New York After Being Captured, Flown Out of Country During Venezuela Attack

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife have been indicted in the Southern District of New York following his capture during a US military operation in the middle of the night. 

“Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. 

Explosions were reported across Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, early this morning.

This comes after Trump confirmed that US forces conducted the first land strike against a drug trafficking facility in Venezuela earlier this week. “There was a major explosion in the dock area where they load the boats up with drugs,” Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago.

President Trump announced the successful “large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader,” adding that Maduro and his wife were captured and flown out of the country.

The President further announced that a news conference will be held at his Mar-a-Lago home this morning at 11 am ET.

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YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS UP: Portland Rolls Out PAID “Immigration Leave” — City Workers Get 40 Hours Off for Deportation Hearings While Taxpayers Foot the Bill, No Questions Asked

The City of Portland has officially rolled out a new taxpayer-funded benefit: paid “Immigration, Naturalization, and Citizenship Leave” Human Resources Administrative Rule (HRAR) 6.15.

City officials have now committed public funds to cover paid leave for immigration court proceedings—including deportation hearings while blocking basic oversight, all while the city is facing a $66 million shortfall.

As of January 1, 2026, city workers in Portland, Oregon, can now clock out for up to 40 hours a year — without losing pay or benefits — to deal with immigration-related legal matters for themselves or for family members.

Eligible employees may use this leave for activities such as:

  • Obtaining legal support or meeting with immigration or criminal defense attorneys
  • Attending interviews or tests related to naturalization or citizenship
  • Appearing at state or federal criminal court proceedings
  • Deportation hearings
  • Matters involving “unlawful detention” related to immigration status.

For the first 40 hours each year, this leave is paid and coded in the payroll system as IMLV, with the employee remaining on regular payroll the entire time.

The policy does not stop with the employee.

HRAR 6.15 explicitly allows this paid leave to be used to support:

  • A spouse
  • A child
  • A parent
  • A sibling
  • Or anyone with a “close association” equivalent to family.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the policy is its strict privacy mandate.

Under HRAR 6.15, supervisors and managers are prohibited from asking about or collecting information related to:

  • An employee’s immigration status
  • Citizenship status
  • Country of birth

Employees are also instructed not to provide such information to the city, except where strictly required by state or federal law

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Distraught Cape Cod widow told ‘forever home’ is one of 13 set to be demolished to make way for new bridge… with neighbors whose properties were spared dreading the thundering traffic

A distraught Cape Cod widow will see her home of more than 24 years demolished to make way for a new bridge.

Joyce Michaud, 80, is among 13 unlucky residents who will have their properties flattened by Massachusetts officials as part of the $2.1 billion project to replace the Sagamore Bridge.

Michaud’s three-bedroom home will bulldozed to make room for workers’ equipment, and will eventually become a basin to catch storm water rolling off the bridge, The Boston Globe reported. 

‘[I thought:] “I’m all set. My kids don’t have to worry. I’m all set”,’ she told The Globe. ‘And now, I’m not.

‘It’s really hard to lose something that you thought was yours.’ 

The residence is being seized through eminent domain, which allows the state to take property for public use. 

An additional 17 properties will be partially acquired. Seven vacant properties will also be seized. 

Meanwhile neighbors who have been spared demolition say they are dreading the onslaught of traffic and noisy works which will take place for the next ten years during construction of the new bridge, which connected Cape Cod to the mainland.

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Anti-Marijuana Group Hires Trump’s Former Attorney General For Lawsuit To Block Rescheduling Move Directed By President

A leading marijuana prohibitionist group says it’s retained the legal services of President Donald Trump’s former attorney general, Bill Barr, to sue to reverse federal marijuana rescheduling if and when the pending rule is finalized. And they’ll also be filing a petition through the administrative process to keep cannabis strictly prohibited.

Trump earned bipartisan applause last month when he signed an executive order directing the current attorney general to complete the process of moving cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The policy change wouldn’t legalize marijuana, but it would formally recognize the plant’s medical value, allow marijuana businesses to take federal tax deductions and remove certain research barriers.

Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) President Kevin Sabet called the move a “full betrayal” of the president’s “promise to keep all Americans safe and health” that amounts to a giant gift to Big Marijuana and its pushers who are now more incentivized to target children with their highly addictive products.”

“This rule, if finalized, will herald a public health disaster,” he said. “Thankfully, this decision does not legalize marijuana, but it gifts the industry with more than $2 billion in tax write-offs at a time when their advertising is inflicting carnage on America’s families.”

SAM described the reform as a “pyrrhic victory for the industry”—and one that they intend to fight with the legal assistance of Barr, who now serves as a partner at the firm Torridon Law.

Barr’s firm previously represented SAM last year in asking the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to extend the public comment period for the cannabis rescheduling proposal.

Because current Attorney General Pam Bondi has not yet signed off on the proposed rescheduling rule, which is the product of a scientific and legal review initiated under the Biden administration, no lawsuit has been filed yet. But should that happen, Sabet said SAM intends to sue in the court system while also petitioning DEA to move cannabis back to Schedule I.

Sabet said that advocates have “failed in their attempt to legalize their products, banking, and they were dealt a huge blow with the new law outlawing Delta-8 and other synthetic pot products.”

While there was some speculation that the executive order Trump signed would include a directive for Congress to pass a bipartisan marijuana banking bill, there weren’t expectations that the president would push for outright legalization through that action.

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