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Iran Protests Easing After Deadly Crackdown: Rights Groups

Iran’s deadly crackdown appears to have broadly quelled protests for now, according to a rights group and residents, as state media reported more arrests on Friday in the shadow of U.S. threats to intervene if killing continues.

After President Donald Trump’s repeated threats of military action against Iran in support of protesters, fears of a U.S. attack have retreated since Wednesday, when Trump said he’d been told killings in the crackdown were easing.

U.S. allies including Saudi Arabia and Qatar conducted intense diplomacy with Washington this week to prevent a U.S. strike, warning of consequences ‍for the wider region that would ultimately impact the United States, a Gulf official said.

The White House said on Thursday that Trump is ‍closely monitoring the situation on the ground, adding that the president and his team have warned Tehran there would be “grave consequences” if killings linked to its crackdown continue.

Trump understands that 800 scheduled executions were halted, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt added, saying the president was ⁠keeping “all of his options on the table.”

The protests erupted on December 28 over soaring inflation in Iran, whose economy has been crippled by sanctions, before spiraling into one of the biggest challenges yet to the clerical establishment that has run Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

With information ​flows from Iran obstructed by an internet blackout, several residents of Tehran said the capital had been quiet since Sunday. They said drones were flying over the city, where they’d seen no sign of protests on Thursday or Friday.

Iranian-Kurdish rights group Hengaw said that there had been no protest gatherings since Sunday, saying “the security environment remains highly restrictive.”

“Our independent sources confirm a heavy military and security presence ‍in cities and towns where protests previously took place, as well as in several locations that did not experience major demonstrations,” Norway-based Hengaw said in comments to Reuters.

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Federal probe sought to refocus school districts’ priorities

A public watchdog has filed a federal complaint against a Wisconsin school district that prefers to hire “diverse” and “culturally competent” teachers rather than effective ones.

Michael Chamberlain, director of Protect the Public’s Trust, says the West Allis-West Milwaukee School District’s 2025-2030 strategic plan details goals of “increasing staff diversity” and prioritizing “hiring and retaining a diverse workforce that better reflects our student population.”

His team, which monitors public officials and institutions for ethics, transparency, and accountability, filed this federal complaint after taking similar action against another school district in Vermont.

“We received a tip from a concerned citizen … and what we discovered when we looked into it was yet another school district that was prioritizing politics and ideology over the civil rights and the needs of students,” Chamberlain summarizes.

They are setting goals for certain ethnicities and using terms like “equity,” which Chamberlain says is wrong.

“People in education know … that means putting the needs of certain students above the needs of others based upon certain characteristics that the students can’t control and using criteria like that rather than merit and looking to improve student achievement overall,” he details.

Though the strategy does include plans to increase student success as well, the Daily Caller says the district admits that only 33% of its third grade students are testing proficient or advanced in literacy and 33% of its eighth graders are earning the same status in mathematics on the state exam.

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Three Venezuelan Illegal Immigrants Arrested in Minneapolis Ambush of ICE Agent 

Three men have been arrested in Minneapolis and are facing federal charges following what authorities described as an “attempted murder” of a federal immigration officer during a law enforcement operation on Wednesday night, according to the Department of Homeland Security, as reported by The New York Post.

DHS officials said the suspects — Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, Alfredo Alejandro Ajorna, and Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Ledezma — are all illegal immigrants from Venezuela who entered the United States during the Biden administration.

All three men are currently being held in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Three men have been arrested in Minneapolis and are facing federal charges following what authorities described as an “attempted murder” of a federal immigration officer during a law enforcement operation on Wednesday night, according to the Department of Homeland Security, as reported by The New York Post.

DHS officials said the suspects — Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, Alfredo Alejandro Ajorna, and Gabriel Alejandro Hernandez-Ledezma — are all illegal immigrants from Venezuela who entered the United States during the Biden administration.

All three men are currently being held in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“What we saw last night in Minneapolis was an attempted murder of federal law enforcement,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.

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Newsom Adds Menopause Funding to California Budget After Public Criticism From Halle Berry

California Gov. Gavin Newsom has added millions of dollars for menopause-related health services to the state budget following public criticism from actress Halle Berry, who recently faulted him for vetoing legislation aimed at expanding menopause care coverage, as reported by The New York Post.

In his newly unveiled budget, Newsom included $3.4 million in funding dedicated to menopause and perimenopause services within California’s roughly $350 billion spending plan.

The funding was included without public fanfare and appears as a line item in budget documents.

According to those documents, the allocation includes $3 million from the state’s general fund, along with “$391,000 Managed Care Fund ongoing, to support health care coverage for perimenopause and menopause, including enrollee access to care, provider education, and a statewide public awareness campaign.”

The move follows criticism Berry delivered onstage weeks earlier, where she took direct aim at Newsom for vetoing menopause-related legislation in consecutive years.

“Back in my great state of California, my very own governor, Gavin Newsom, has vetoed our menopause bill, not one, but two years in a row,” Berry said.

“But that’s OK, because he’s not going to be governor forever, and the way he has overlooked women, half the population, by devaluing us, he probably should not be our next president either. Just saying.”

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Empty Apartments, Fake Addresses, Stolen Billions: The Somali Transport Empire Walz Ignored

An exchange on Fox News highlighted allegations of widespread fraud involving Minnesota transportation companies, with investigative commentator Nick Shirley describing what he said was extensive abuse tied to state-funded programs and enabled by political inaction.

Shirley appeared with host Jesse Watters to discuss his on-the-ground investigation into transportation providers connected to daycare operations across Minnesota.

According to Shirley, many of the companies receiving taxpayer money appeared to have no legitimate operations at all.

Watters asked Shirley whether community leaders were defending those accused of fraud even if they were not directly involved.

“Like, even if they’re not involved in the fraud, are they still defending the Somali tribe?” Watters asked.

“Well, you heard them,” Shirley responded.

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Mamdani Appoints Woman Named ‘Afua Atta-Mensah’ As Chief Equity Officer

Democratic New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani named Afua Atta-Mensah as the city’s new Chief Equity Officer and commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Equity & Racial Justice on Thursday.

Mamdani, a 34-year-old Ugandan-born, Indian-descent avowed socialist, was sworn into office on Jan. 1 and has been appointing allies to key posts since taking power. In a social media post, Mamdani announced appointing Atta-Mensah and said she built her career serving communities that rarely gain access to decision-makers. He tasked her with carrying that focus across city government.

“Afua has dedicated her career to serving the New Yorkers who are so often forgotten in the halls of power. In this new role, she will advance that mission across our government and deliver a more equitable city for all,” Mamdani wrote. “That work starts with finally fulfilling the city’s promise of a Preliminary Citywide Racial Equity Plan and embracing the diverse fabric that makes our city special.”

By the time Mamdani announced Atta-Mensah’s appointment Thursday, her X account had been deactivated, the New York Post reported. City Hall said the administration does not require newly appointed officials to delete their social media accounts.

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Another Pastor Tortures Goldfish For Strange Sermon Illustration

There are few things that clever and seeker-sensitive churches like more than using strange and unusual sermon illustrations to make a point, and the goldfish-out-of-water scenario keeps being a winner.

We saw Ed. Young Jr do this a few years back, and then fellow Texan pastor Bruno Dacosta followed suit.

Now it’s Pastor Terrence Mullings of History Makers Church’s turn.

During his sermon “The Secret of the Soil”, Mullings posits that “places are important” and that God creates places for people first, then puts them in those places.

He has his assistant hand him a live goldfish, which he places on the table. As the fish lies there gasping for water and breath, he explains:

“A fish out of water looks like a failure. But if you take that fish and you place it [in water], this fish isn’t a failure—this fish just hadn’t found its place yet.

When you are in the place that God created you to be, you don’t look like a failure… (you flourish and look phenomenal.)”

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Hunter Biden’s stripper baby mama asks for him to be ARRESTED over claims he is still failing to pay her child support

The mother of Hunter Biden‘s child has asked an Arkansas judge to have him arrested for failing to fulfil a child support agreement, in new court filings.

Lunden Roberts, 34, filed an emotional plea to the judge on Tuesday, reopening her child support case against the felonious former First Son, who is now an artist.

Roberts settled her claims against Hunter for alleged millions in unpaid child support in 2023, letting him off the hook with a reported $5,000 per month in support payments and an agreement that he would meet with their daughter, then age 4, and let her pick out some of his paintings.

But in her filing on Tuesday, Roberts claimed Hunter has failed to follow through – and asked Judge Holly Meyer to ‘incarcerate him in the Independence County Detention Center as a civil penalty until he purges his contempt by complying with this court’s orders’.

Roberts wrote in the filing that their daughter Navy Joan – given the alias ‘MC1’ in the documents – yearned for contact with her father, who allegedly ‘ghosted’ her.

‘MC1, who believes her father will go to heaven, once stated that she ‘could not wait to get to heaven’ so she could ‘be with [her] dad’ because her dad does not see or talk to her because her dad ‘lives far away and is really busy,’ Roberts wrote in the legal filing.

Hunter initially denied paternity, but it was proven by a court-mandated DNA test, after which he began to engage with his youngest daughter, Roberts said.

‘The child and her dad started building the foundations of a missing, but exceedingly important, father-daughter relationship,’ her filing said.

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Trump admin quietly restores some funding to Planned Parenthood after lawsuit

The Trump administration has backed down on a portion of the funding it has denied to Planned Parenthood, restoring tens of millions of dollars to the abortion giant in the face of a lawsuit.

Last year, the federal government froze $120 million in federal Title X “family-planning” grants to organizations suspected of not complying with the administration’s executive orders against involvement with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The move did not specifically target Planned Parenthood or abortion, but covered approximately $20 million received by Planned Parenthood locations across a dozen states. 

The abortion lobby and others sued, and Politico reports that the far-left American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has withdrawn its lawsuit in response to the Trump administration quietly restoring the funding in question last month. In a December 19 court filing, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said without elaboration that “the review is completed, and all grants at issue for Plaintiff’s members have been restored […] this matter can be voluntarily dismissed in light of the restoration of the remaining grants.”

“More than 800 service sites were unable to provide Title X services. Hundreds of thousands of patients were unable to get Title X services. So the impact was tremendous,” responded Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the ACLU’s “Reproductive Freedom Project.” “So damage certainly was done as a result of their unlawful withholding of the funds.”

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WHAT MEDIA BIAS? Look How CNN Framed Inflation Under Joe Biden Versus Trump

CNN is a horribly biased outlet. Everyone with a brain knows this, but sometimes their bias is so stunning it deserves to be pointed out.

They recently tweeted something about inflation, and one smart Twitter/X user from the Daily Wire held it up alongside a similar tweet from when Biden was still in office.

Even though the numbers are far better under Trump, the Biden era tweet sounds like good news, while the recent Trump era tweet sounds negative.

FOX News reports:

CNN called out for framing of inflation under Trump versus Biden in viral post

CNN is facing social media backlash after a social media user pointed out a perceived disparity in how the outlet framed the economy under President Donald Trump versus former President Joe Biden.

Following a Tuesday post on X from CNN regarding inflation under Trump, Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips pointed to a contrast in how inflation is framed now compared to Biden’s time in office.

In March 2023, CNN posted to their X account that “US inflation is still high, but it’s falling,” noting that the previous month’s “Consumer Price Index measured 6%, down from January’s 6.4%.”

Fast-forward to 2026, the outlet wrote on X that “US inflation remained at 2.7% in December, underscoring persistent cost of living challenges.”

This disparity in framing prompted Phillips to upload an image showing both statements, pointing out the difference between how CNN framed 6% inflation under Biden versus 2.7% inflation under Trump.

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