Spontaneous nationwide protests have erupted across the repressive Islamist theocracy of Iran. Ordinary Iranians are demanding not only economic relief, but an end to the Islamic Republic itself.

This is the largest popular uprising Iran has seen in nearly two decades. And the regime is responding with brutal force. Security services are trying to crush dissent through terror.

And the human toll is staggering. In just weeks, the regime’s crackdown has caused more civilian deaths than two years of fighting in Gaza. Yet legacy media has remained largely silent, with a few notable exceptions.

Iran is home to a rich culture and a proud history. America and President Trump are watching closely. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft is in the region. God willing, this time the Iranian people—perhaps with our help—will throw off their oppressors and reclaim a free and hopeful future.

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Can America avoid another war in the streets, this time over federal enforcement of immigration law? Both Donald Trump and Governor Tim Walz have that opportunity.

After a second shooting involving an activist during Homeland Security’s Operation Metro Surge last week, tensions escalated and violent protests increased. This time, the president emphasized his determination to enforce federal law but put border czar Tom Homan in direct charge on Monday.

Walz appears to have recognized this as an opening to dial down the tensions and the rhetoric. Trump announced that Walz called him shortly after Homan’s appointment and held “a very good call” to pledge his efforts to find ways to coordinate to resolve the conflict.

This offers a good opportunity for peace. However, none of this would have happened had it not been for Minnesota’s “sanctuary” status. Had Walz followed most of the rest of the country and cooperated with federal law enforcement, these operations would not be necessary, and the peace would never have been threatened.

I’m Ed Morrissey.

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There’s an old adage about speculation and opinionizing over what a political leader may or may not do: it goes “Those who know don’t say, and those who say don’t know.” This would be a good rule for those who catastrophize the consequences of President Donald Trump’s proposed actions … before they take place.

In recent days, fearmongering and panic were everywhere over the President’s plans for Greenland, some went so far as to say it would be the destruction of NATO, others called for the 25th Amendment. But, within about six hours of being in Davos, we received news that the framework for non-military deal was put together.

All of a sudden, it all seemed very reasonable.

As children, we read of the story of Chicken Little to learn not to exaggerate our paranoias; doing so leading to disastrous results. President Trump has embarrassed his critics with success—time and time again.

Perhaps it’s time to give him a little wider berth on the international stage.

So far, he’s done quite well.

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The first year of the second term of President Trump concluded on Tuesday this week—and only the most extreme of partisans will deny that 45-47 hung a lot of wins on the wall:

• A closed border,
• "eight-and-a-quarter" peace negotiations,
• the "one big beautiful bill,"
• Operation Midnight Hammer in Iran,
• Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela,
• Rising domestic oil and gas production, and:
• The wonderful combination of falling inflation and rising wages.

Most important to the world of his achievements in his first year back: President Trump is not only the commander in chief of the mightiest military in history, he’s demonstrated that knows how to use it.

Trump has restored America’s deterrence—a power that that had been forfeited by Biden and our collapse in Afghanistan.

Iran, Islamist terrorists across Africa, from Somalia to Nigeria and Nicholas Maduro have all suffered devastating blows that punished them for behavior outside the guardrails that President Trump set.

American leadership is back.

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There’s very little left that’s sacred in American political life. Until recently, houses of worship were one of the few exceptions.

No longer. In Minnesota, far-left agitators stormed a church service. Their stated goal was to find the pastor, whom they claimed worked for ICE.

The First Amendment protects free speech, as it should. Americans have the right to petition their government for redress of grievances. That includes the right to protest government actions that offend their conscience.

But protest must be peaceful. Once it turns violent, it becomes criminal conduct.

And when a mob breaks into a church during services to pursue a pastor, threatening peaceful worshippers, it’s something even uglier. It’s domestic terror.

What happened at the Minnesota church crossed a bright line in American life. The mob should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

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“Well, we have to ask,” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro recalls being pressed.

No, they really didn't.

In his new memoir, Shapiro tells the true story of his interaction with Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. The vetting process, headed by former Attorney General Eric Holder, obsessed over Shapiro’s views on Israel. In fact, the vetting team demanded to know if Shapiro had ever been an agent for the Israeli government—on no evidentiary basis except that Shapiro is Jewish.

This is an ancient libel against Jews—driving the Spanish Inquisition, the pogroms in eastern Europe, the Dreyfus Affair in France and, of course Germany under the Nazis. It’s the anti-Semitic assumption that a Jew living as a Jew is suspect of disloyalty on that basis alone.

And now it’s come to America embraced by the Democrat Party itself—part of its presidential campaign in 2024.

Kamala Harris needs to answer for this repulsive development—and so does her party.

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This past Sunday, the unthinkable happened. A leftist mob aided and abetted by former CNN host, Don Lemon, burst into an evangelical congregation at worship on the Lord's Day.

It happened as Citi's Church in St. Paul, Minnesota was worshiping this past Sunday. Angry protestors invaded the church, stopped its worship, intimidated its members, and demanded that the church denounce one of its elders who is currently serving as acting field director for US immigrations and customs enforcement, better known as ICE.

Is this where we are headed? Invading a church engaged in worship on the Lord's Day is the breaking of a bright moral line. Children and young people in this Southern Baptist congregation were traumatized. This is flatly wrong and clearly scandalous.

Federal authorities need to act and responsible citizens need to remind our fellow citizens that ICE is an official federal law enforcement agency and is to be fully respected.

This church invasion was a first. It likely won't be the last.

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Chalk up a significant win for religious freedom—this time from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The court ruled that religious organizations have the right to hire people who share their faith, even for non-ministerial roles like administrative assistants or technicians. In other words, faith-based organizations don’t lose their religious identity the moment someone steps out of the pulpit and into an office.

The decision applies only to religious organizations themselves, not to secular businesses or hospitals they may operate. But it still matters a great deal.

At stake is a basic principle: religious groups exist to advance a mission grounded in shared beliefs. Every employee contributes to that mission in some way. Forcing a religious organization to hire people who reject its core convictions undermines its very purpose.

Kudos to the Ninth Circuit for recognizing this simple truth.

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