It's Getting Worse: Iran Protests Turn Deadly as Anti-Regime Demonstrations Enter Fifth Day

Iran's rulers are once again discovering a truth they have spent decades trying to suppress: that a population pushed far enough will eventually push back.

For a fifth consecutive day on Thursday, protests spread across Tehran and multiple provincial cities, with clashes reported overnight and mounting evidence of fatalities. State-linked media, human rights organizations, and opposition groups all acknowledged deaths, even as the authorities continued their familiar efforts at obfuscation and minimization.

Reuters reported that several people have been killed since unrest escalated earlier this week, drawing on Iranian media and human rights sources. Officials have confirmed at least one death, while additional fatalities were reported in multiple provinces, an admission that itself suggests the true number may be higher.

The opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) told Fox News Digital that demonstrations and street clashes continued Thursday morning in Tehran and in cities including Marvdasht, Kermanshah, Delfan, and Arak. The group claimed that two protesters were killed by direct gunfire in Lordegan, a report that could not be independently verified.

The protests began on Sunday not with ideological slogans but with economic despair. Shopkeepers and merchants, long regarded as a conservative backbone of Iranian society, took to the streets over soaring inflation, unemployment, and the collapsing value of the national currency. The unrest quickly outgrew the bazaars, spreading to students and broader public demonstrations across the country. Economic grievance, as so often in Iran, has proved to be the gateway to political revolt.

In Lordegan, in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, clashes intensified overnight. Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, reported that crowds threw stones at government buildings, including the governor’s office, the judiciary, the Martyrs Foundation, the Friday prayer complex, and several banks. 

Police responded with tear gas, and multiple buildings were heavily damaged. Fars acknowledged that two people were killed, without clarifying whether they were protesters or members of the security forces, a studied ambiguity that has become standard practice.

The Kurdish rights group Hengaw said protesters in Lordegan were killed by security forces. In Kuhdasht, authorities claimed that a member of the Basij volunteer paramilitary force was killed and 13 others wounded, blaming demonstrators. Hengaw disputed this account, telling Reuters that the individual was in fact a protester killed by security forces. Reuters said it could not independently confirm either version.

Elsewhere, Iran International reported that a 37-year-old man was shot dead in Fooladshahr, in Isfahan province, during overnight protests. The outlet said it verified the man’s identity and reviewed video footage, while provincial police confirmed the death of a 37-year-old citizen but offered no further details.

Six women detained during protests in Tehran have since been transferred to the women’s ward of Evin prison, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), a reminder that repression in Iran is rarely confined to the streets alone.

President Donald Trump and other U.S. administration officials voiced support for the demonstrators this week. Speaking Monday, Trump pointed to Iran’s economic collapse and long-standing public anger, though he stopped short of explicitly calling for regime change.

Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, was less restrained. In a statement on the continuing protests, she said:

"The four-day uprising by merchants, students, and other sectors of society signals the Iranian people’s determination to be free from religious tyranny. This wretched regime is doomed to be overthrown by the risen populace and rebellious youth. The final word is spoken in the streets by the people and the rebellious youth, those with nothing left to lose. This regime must go."

The last nationwide protests of comparable scale followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her detention by Iran’s morality police in October 2022. Those demonstrations centered on women’s rights and state repression. The present unrest, by contrast, is rooted primarily in economic collapse—but in several cities protesters are already directing their fury squarely at the political leadership itself.

Iran’s economy remains crushed by years of international sanctions, rampant inflation, and currency depreciation. On Wednesday, authorities declared a nationwide shutdown across much of the country, officially blaming extreme cold weather, while offering talks with merchants and trade unions over what they described as “legitimate demands.” The gesture was transparently tactical.

Another dissident voice, exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, appealed on X for international support, urging the world “to stand with the people of Iran.” He added:

"The current regime has reached the end of the road. It stands at its most fragile: weak, deeply divided, and unable to suppress the courage of a rising nation. The growing protests show this year will be the definitive moment for change."

Iran has endured repeated waves of unrest over the past decade. Each time, the regime has survived by force, fear, and fatigue. Yet each eruption leaves the system weaker, more exposed, and more reliant on violence to maintain the illusion of control. What is unfolding now is not an aberration. It is the logical consequence of a state that has long governed against its own people—and is finally being answered in the streets.

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UPDATE: Not only have Iranians taken full control over many towns, they have taken control of many police stations and taken over equipment. Islamic forces have begun shooting protesters, so the number of casualties is obviously going to grow. The revolutionaries are now using Molotov cocktails and have hit an IRGC base with them. IRGC members have been captured across the country--it isn't know what their fate is or will be. Statues of the regime are being torn down. 

It's highly likely that tomorrow, Friday, will be very vicious. Let's pray for Iran and the revolution. Arab proxies have been brought in by Iraq to deal with the protesters.

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"Javid Shah!" Iranians calling for return of Pahlavis, their king

Reza Pahlavi

In the streets of Iran, a phrase once banished to the whispers of exile and treason, has roared back into the open: “Javid Shah” – Long Live the Shah.

What was for decades politically radioactive is now echoing through Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Ahvaz, Hamadan, and even the clerical stronghold of Qom. Videos smuggled out of the country show crowds chanting it without fear, alongside calls for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic and open support for the exiled Pahlavi dynasty. For a regime whose entire legitimacy rests on the destruction of that dynasty and the systematic erasure of its memory, this is an existential threat. It signals that public fury has transcended complaints about prices or policy and become a wholesale rejection of the theocratic order itself.

The unrest began when Tehran’s bazaari merchants, that ancient and formidable class, shuttered their shops in response to the catastrophic collapse of the rial, which at one point traded at over 1.4 million to the dollar on the open market against an official rate of 42,000. 

Economic despair, long simmering, exploded into outright defiance. But the slogans quickly outgrew mere grievances over bread and butter. Crowds chanted, "This is the final battle! Pahlavi will return," and "The shah will return to the homeland, and Zahhak (despot) will be overthrown," drawing on the ancient Persian myth of the tyrannical Zahhak to cast the current Supreme Leader as the monster of the age. Other voices rang out with "No to Gaza, no to Lebanon, I give my life for Iran," a blunt repudiation of the regime’s lavish funding of foreign proxies while its own people starve.

The security forces have so far responded with restraint: tear gas, water cannons, rubber bullets. Reports speak of at least one death, a Basij militiaman killed in clashes, but the regime seems cautious, offering vague promises of "dialogue" rather than the full brutality it has deployed in the past. 

It knows that excessive force could tip the balance, turning manageable discontent into uncontrollable revolution. Yet the chants already suggest that a deeper shift is underway.To Western ears, "Javid Shah" might sound like a naive plea for literal monarchy restored. In Iran, its resonance is far more profound.

The Islamic Republic has spent forty-six years demonising the Pahlavi era as a time of corruption, foreign subservience, and moral decay. To invoke the Shah now is a deliberate assault on the regime's founding myth. More than that, it expresses a yearning for an Iran rooted in its own pre-Islamic, imperial history, an Iran ruled by kings and emperors for millennia, not by clerics obsessed with a pan-Islamic ummah and the export of revolution. 

The Islamic Republic, should it limp to its fiftieth anniversary in 2029, will still represent less than two per cent of Iran's recorded history. The return of monarchist symbols is a reminder that the clerics are the historical interlopers.

Political change often begins with the breaking of taboos. The Woman, Life, Freedom uprising of 2022 shattered the enforced consensus around compulsory hijab. Now, protesters are reaching for symbols the regime has spent decades trying to bury. When people abandon the language dictated by the state and embrace the forbidden, authority begins to crumble. "Javid Shah" is precisely such a forbidden symbol.

Iran's bazaaris have always been more than traders. For centuries they have been a political force, their strikes capable of paralyzing the economy and shifting the course of history: toppling the Tobacco Concession in the 1890s, driving the Constitutional Revolution, supporting Mossadegh’s oil nationalization, and, most fatefully, helping bring down the monarchy itself in 1978–79 through prolonged closures that starved the Shah’s government of revenue.

Even under the Islamic Republic, born of an alliance between clerics and bazaaris, the merchants have periodically flexed their muscle during economic crises. The question this week was whether their strike was merely about money or something more fundamental. The fact that Pahlavi's name now passes their lips provides the answer.

What makes the present moment especially dangerous for the regime is that the bazaaris are not acting alone. Students, that other historic engine of Iranian upheaval, have joined them. University campuses, once hotbeds of Islamist and leftist fervor that helped destroy the monarchy in 1979, are now filled with young people chanting in support of Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. For a generation born long after the revolution, the Pahlavi era is not lived memory but a symbol of an Iran free from clerical control, ideological compulsion, and the squandering of national wealth on foreign adventures.

When bazaaris and students align, Iranian governments have rarely survived. In 1979 they combined to fell the Shah. Today they converge against the very system they once helped install.

Against this backdrop, Reza Pahlavi has positioned himself as the natural focal point for a fragmented opposition. In recent months he has grown bolder: calling openly for regime change, convening broad coalitions of dissidents, and outlining principles for a future Iran, territorial integrity, equality, individual liberties, separation of religion and state. He has stressed that any return of monarchy must be decided by referendum and that he seeks no personal power unless freely chosen by the people.
IRGC,

As protests escalated, he issued a direct appeal: "Today is a time for greater solidarity. I call on all segments of society to join your fellow citizens in the streets and raise your voices demanding the downfall of this system."

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One exiled opposition figure told reporters this week: "It is crystal clear that the population accepts the leadership of Prince Reza Pahlavi… Now it is up to the prince to expand his circle and show that his professional cadres can take over the government. In that case, the military could join the people."

Whether these protests will gather the momentum to topple the regime remains uncertain, but it's looking as if it will. Several police stations have been overrun and burned and clerics are removing their clerical garb and running for the hills.

Repression could yet intensify. But something irrevocable has already happened. On the streets of the Islamic Republic, the people are once again calling for their king. And in a land with such a long memory, that call carries a weight no theocracy can easily dismiss.

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Texas Man Arrested for Allegedly Trying to Arm ISIS With Bomb Materials – And the Feds Nailed Him Cold

Look, in an era where the threats from radical Islamic terrorism never really went away, despite what some politicians tried to tell us, it's refreshing to see federal law enforcement actually doing their job and stopping a plot before it turns into another bloody headline.

A 21-year-old from Midlothian, Texas, named John Michael Garza Jr., got himself arrested on December 22 after he allegedly handed over bomb-making components, cash, and detailed instructions to undercover agents he thought were his ISIS "brothers." Federal authorities dropped the hammer, charging him with attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group.

The whole thing started back in mid-October 2025 when an undercover NYPD employee spotted Garza's social media account liking and sharing pro-ISIS garbage. Turns out, the guy was following extremist accounts and diving headfirst into their content. 

When the undercover reached out, Garza proudly described himself as a 21-year-old Mexican-American living in Texas.

Over the next two months, he allegedly sent official ISIS propaganda, including videos of suicide bombings and bomb-making tutorials, plus small crypto transfers he believed would buy guns and fund operations.

The sting peaked when Garza met an undercover FBI agent, handed over explosive precursors, and explained how to mix them into a shrapnel bomb, even suggesting nails to maximize the carnage. One example of the ISIS media he shared: a photo of a masked individual and another man in a gated area.

The evidence laid out in the complaint is damning: Crypto transfers to fund what he thought were ISIS weapons and missions and sharing official ISIS videos of bombings and bomb-building guides.

Physically delivering bomb components and shrapnel instructions on December 22.Garza appeared in court on December 23, with a detention hearing set for December 30 in the Northern District of Texas. If convicted, he's looking at up to 20 years in federal prison. 

"This case is a testament to the incredible work of our federal agents, who work tirelessly to save American lives," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. "ISIS's poisonous ideology must be ripped out root and stem, anyone who tries to commit violence on ISIS's behalf will be found, arrested, and prosecuted. You cannot hide from us."

"[Monday's] announcement underscores the FBI's commitment to combatting terrorism and demonstrates our continuous work to disrupt and thwart terrorist plots against the American public," said FBI Director Kash Patel. "Let this serve as a warning to those who plan to conduct attacks against the United States on behalf of terrorist organizations, you will be brought to justice."

"The increasing threats of harm and destruction in our country made by those aligned with violent ideologies must be stopped," said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould for the Northern District of Texas. "An alleged ISIS sympathizer has been federally charged with an international terrorism. This operation is but one example highlighting the necessity of vigilant observation and swift action to halt what could have been a devastating outcome. Together with our law enforcement partners, we will continue to take prompt action against those attempting to carry out alleged terrorist missions."

"The FBI worked alongside our law enforcement partners to quickly arrest an individual who intended to provide bomb-making materials to a foreign terrorist organization," said Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock of FBI Dallas. "Protecting the Homeland is a top priority for the FBI. This arrest demonstrates our commitment to safeguarding our communities from terrorism."

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"[Monday's] charges illustrate that the threats of terrorism and extremist violence against our nation are still very real," said Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch of the New York Police Department (NYPD). "The NYPD remains committed to identifying, disrupting, and dismantling these networks at their source, before they can reach their murderous ends. And any person who puts American lives at risk will face justice and be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. I want to thank our undercover investigators in the NYPD, as well as our law enforcement partners in the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office, for their exceptional work on this case."

This is exactly the kind of proactive work that keeps ISIS wannabes from turning their sick fantasies into reality. In a sane world, we'd see more of this and less hand-wringing about "root causes." The ideology is the problem, and ripping it out, as Bondi put it, is the only solution.

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Man with gender dysphoria and a lawmaker pleads in federal court on sexual exploitation of children charges

A thing of beauty is a joy forever--he need not worry

Folks, here we go again with another "trailblazing" figure from the transgender activist class crashing spectacularly into reality. Stacie-Marie Laughton, a man who believes he's a woman, and who was hailed as the first openly transgender state lawmaker in New Hampshire history (and often falsely called the first in the entire country), just pleaded guilty in federal court to sexual exploitation of children.

Yes, this former Democratic representative, while serving in the New Hampshire House back in 2022, was scheming with his disgusting ex-girlfriend, Lindsay Groves, who worked at a Massachusetts daycare. Groves snapped nude photos of preschoolers, kids under the age of 5, and sent them straight to Laughton. According to court filings, "Groves took four photos of children under the age of 5." 

And it gets worse. 

The pair "exchanged thousands of text messages" where Laughton openly expressed his desire to sexually abuse these toddlers. Investigators say Laughton wasn't just passively receiving the images; he was actively pushing for them and even fantasizing about assaulting the children. He should receive life in the slammer, in my opinion.

This isn't some fringe nobody. Laughton was elected multiple times, celebrated by the media and the left as a historic pioneer. But his career has been one long string of scandals: felony credit card fraud convictions that forced a resignation in 2012, a bomb threat hoax, stalking charges that ended his last term in 2022. Now this—preying on the most vulnerable kids imaginable.

Of course, the same outlets that fawned over his "bravery" for wearing women's clothing and bathing in his delusion, are now quietly reporting the guilty plea, often still using feminine pronouns because apparently that's more important than the victims. 

But let's be clear: this case isn't about one bad apple spoiling the bunch. When you elevate people based on identity rather than character, when you ignore red flags because someone checks the right progressive boxes, this is what you get. A predator in power, exploiting innocent children. The left's obsession with forcing transgender ideology into every corner of society, including schools and daycares, creates blind spots exactly like this.

We need to protect kids first, always. No more pretending these stories are isolated. No more mandatory pronouns for child abusers. Justice for the victims, and a serious reckoning for the ideology that helped put this monster in a position of influence.

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Study Finds: Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens dramatically increased Israel focus in recent months

A think tank over in Jerusalem called the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) just dropped a study claiming that Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens have gone full-on obsessed with Israel, cranking up the negative chatter big time this year. And for Owens, they're saying it's veered into straight-up antisemitic territory. Shocking, not so much. It's almost as if Owens and Carlson are beholden to the likes of radical Islam.

The study, which used some fancy AI to sift through thousands of their YouTube videos, found that these two formerly right-wing sellouts have "significantly increased their focus on Israel" in recent months, with a "marked escalation" in the anti-Israel rhetoric.

Over the past six months, mentions of Israel, Jews, and even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shot up way more than talk about other hot-button issues like the Ukraine war, China, or Iran. Israel turned into a "central, and at times dominant," topic for both, Owens kicking it off in February, Carlson piling on in August (or April, depending on which report you read, but you get the idea).

On the tone front, JPPI's AI crunched the numbers and said Tucker's negative Israel content jumped sharply in the last half of the year. For Owens, over 96% of her Israel references were already negative, and she apparently loves that "harsh and hostile language."

The big shift was mostly about volume, just a whole lot more negative content flooding out, including stuff like comparing Israel to Hamas, throwing around "genocide," claiming deliberate child-killing, and pushing conspiracy theories about Israeli or Jewish control over the U.S. government.

Now, the study didn't pin "explicit and consistent" anti-Semitism on Carlson per the IHRA definition. But they dinged him hard for giving a big, uncritical platform to outright antisemites and Holocaust deniers like Nick Fuentes, without pushing back much. So while Carlson isn't a 'technical Jew-hater,' he appears to be an implicit one.

Owens, however, was way more direct. They found 45% of her videos mentioning Jews had an anti-Semitic slant early in the year, doubling to about 75% in recent months. That included generalizations calling Jews a "cult," pushing "Jewish supremacy" claims, accusations of control, deceit, and manipulation, plus dismissing anti-Semitism charges as a "Zionist diversion tactic."

JPPI's big takeaway concluded that this isn't just far-left fringe nonsense anymore; it's seeping into the populist right and MAGA world via big influencers. Terms like "genocide" that used to be lefty staples are now popping up on the right.

"Even on the American far Right, anti-Semitism is already visible, and 'on the table,'" said JPPI Director-General Shuki Friedman.

"The data should serve as a glaring warning light for Israel and the Israeli leadership regarding the support it can mobilize from the right, today and certainly in the future. Only decisive action that provides a counterweight to this extremism can preserve this vital base of support in the US," he added.

Look, nobody's saying free speech should get shut down, but when influential voices start sounding like echoes from the fever swamps, it's worth keeping an eye on. Especially as we head into whatever fresh chaos 2026 has in store. In the meantime, raise a glass to truth-tellers who aren't afraid to ruffle feathers — and let's hope the new year brings more clarity than conspiracy.

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Trump admin freezes 'all child care payments' to MN due to daycare fraud scandal

Gov, Tim Walz

Happy New Year's Eve, dear friends. As we close out 2025 with a bang, or in Minnesota's case, the sound of a money spigot being slammed shut, it's time to celebrate the Trump administration finally doing what Democrats have been pretending to do for years: actually fighting fraud.

The Department of Health and Human Services dropped a bombshell on Tuesday, announcing they've frozen every last dime of child care payments to the Land of 10,000 Lakes (and apparently endless scams) amid a massive fraud scandal that's been bubbling under the surface.

“We have frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota,” Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill and Administration for Children & Families Assistant Secretary Alex Adams declared in a video posted on X. “You have probably read the serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade.”

HHS laid out three no-nonsense moves to tackle what they called the “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country.” First up: flipping the switch on their “Defend the Spend system,” which now demands justification plus a receipt or photo evidence before any federal bucks head to a state.

Second: Thanks to the dogged investigative work of journalist Nick Shirley over recent months, O’Neill and his team have zeroed in on the folks featured in Shirley's videos. They're now demanding a “comprehensive audit of these centers,” covering everything from attendance records and licenses to complaints, investigations, inspections, and beyond.

Nick Shirley

Third: HHS is rolling out a dedicated fraud reporting hotline and email address so parents, providers, and everyday Americans can drop tips on the grifters.

“We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud,” the officials said.Shirley's viral videos have been spotlighting some seriously sketchy activity around Minneapolis, showing alleged daycare and autism centers that look more like ghost towns than places caring for kids. This all piles onto earlier revelations, like a federal prosecutor estimating at least $9 billion in fraud across Minnesota programs during Democratic Governor Tim Walz's tenure. 

The Daily Wire even reported that Minnesota was still cutting checks to an accused Somali fraudster running assisted living homes while he awaited trial for what was called the nation's biggest COVID scam, running a fake charity, no less.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson has flagged 14 Medicaid services in the state as “high risk” for fraud.

Shirley, fresh off an appearance on Fox News, laid it out plain and simple: “It’s so obvious,” Shirley explained, referring to the apparent fraud. “If you’re living in Minnesota, you have to raise your eyebrows and think, ‘What’s going on?’ Literally, if you drive around Minneapolis, you’ll see daycare centers, autism centers — you will then see transportation companies that have snow piled up as if they haven’t moved it in months.”

"A kindergartner could've figured out there was fraud going on."

Walz finally piped up on Tuesday, admitting the state had been “taken advantage of” by fraudsters chasing “greed” over helping kids and the elderly. But in classic Democrat fashion, he pointed the finger elsewhere: “We’ve spent years cracking down on fraud – referring cases to law enforcement, shutting down and auditing high-risk programs,” he said in a social media post. “Trump keeps letting fraudsters out of prison. To the national news just now paying attention, here’s what we’ve done to stop it.”

Ah yes, blame Trump, the guy whose administration just shut down the gravy train. Classic deflection from the party that's been overseeing this mess for years.Here's to more spigots getting turned off in 2026. Cheers!

If you like Brain Flushings and want to Buy Me a Coffee, I would appreciate it, as it supports my work and my coffee drinking habit. Obviously, there is no pressure but I certainly wouldn't stop you from doing me that solid. I hope you have a happy, healthy New Year.

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MN's fraud prevention 'fix' won't fix squat says former FBI agent

Minnesota officials think slapping on one extra "verification layer" to their fraud-riddled Medicaid programs is going to fix anything? 

What a joke!

With federal prosecutors alleging that taxpayers in the Land of 10,000 Lakes have been fleeced for potentially over $9 billion since 2018, Gov. Tampon Tim Walz's administration is rolling out this supposed tough new measure: Healthcare giant Optum will now peek at payments from high-risk programs before they go out to providers. If something looks fishy, it'll get kicked to the inspector general.

But let's be real, this is closing the barn door after the horses have bolted, been sold on the black market, and used the proceeds to buy Lambos.

Former FBI Special Agent Jonathan Gilliam nailed it when he told Fox News Digital that this band-aid won't touch the massive scam operation that's been running wild under Walz's watch.

"Putting an extra layer in is not going to help," Gilliam said. "And one layer is not gonna stop any, it may stop one part of the fraud, it's not really gonna make any difference overall."

Gilliam said the governor committed "at the minimum malpractice" given the eye-watering scale of theft on his turf.

This half-hearted "fix" comes after feds dropped the bomb in mid-December: 14 programs alone racked up $18 billion in costs since 2018, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson said at a presser that "half or more" could be pure fraud.

"When I say significant, I'm talking in the order of half or more. But we'll see," Thompson said. "I think a significant portion."

And that's not all; Thompson announced charges against six more suspects tied to a separate housing services scam. In one standout case, a defendant allegedly pocketed $1.4 million in bogus claims, blew some on cryptocurrency, and then skipped the country after getting subpoenaed.

Then there's the infamous Feeding Our Future clusterfrack, where the nonprofit's ringleaders fabricated meal services for needy kids and walked away with nearly $250 million in taxpayer cash.

Criminal defense attorney Sam Bassett told Fox News Digital this mess screams incompetence from the top.

"I think it remains to be seen when the details come out, but it does have that tenor about it right now that somebody should have done something sooner. Maybe this should have been detected much sooner to prevent continued violations," Bassett said.

Somebody? Under Walz's administration, billions vanished while oversight was apparently optional. This new Optum gimmick is just window dressing for a scandal that's exposed endemic failure in Minnesota's welfare system. Taxpayers deserve real accountability, not this too-little, too-late nonsense.

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Ric Grenell explains why artists may be refusing to perform at the Trump-Kennedy Center

The elites in the performing arts world are throwing a full-blown meltdown over President Trump's name joining JFK's on the Kennedy Center, and it's exposing just how intolerant the left truly is when they don't get their way.

Red State recently reported, that the board of trustees, stacked with Trump's appointees, voted unanimously to rename the iconic venue The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, or the Trump-Kennedy Center for short. This honors Trump's massive efforts throughout 2025 to rescue and revitalize the place, pouring in upgrades and modernization under the guidance of his handpicked interim president, Ric Grenell.

New signs went up almost overnight, and that's when the hissy fits began, not from ticket buyers, but from the performers themselves.

Nick Arama, another reporter from Red State, nailed the coverage on jazz musician Chuck Redd, who'd been hosting the center's Christmas Eve "Jazz Jams" since 2006. He bailed at the last minute after spotting the name change. "When I saw the name change on the Kennedy Center website and then hours later on the building, I chose to cancel our concert," Redd told The Associated Press.

Grenell wasn't having it, hitting back hard and threatening a $1 million lawsuit against Redd for breaching his contract.

"Your decision to withdraw at the last moment — explicitly in response to the Center’s recent renaming, which honors President Trump’s extraordinary efforts to save this national treasure — is classic intolerance and very costly to a non-profit Arts institution,” Grenell wrote.

“Regrettably, your action surrenders to the sad bullying tactics employed by certain elements on the left, who have sought to intimidate artists into boycotting performances at our national cultural center," he added.

And Redd's not alone in prioritizing politics over paying fans. The New York jazz outfit The Cookers ditched their New Year's Eve shows, bloviating that "Jazz was born from struggle and from a relentless insistence on freedom: freedom of thought, of expression, and of the full human voice."

Are you kidding?  Adding Trump's name to the building somehow muzzles "human voices"? 

Cut me a huss [don't Google it; Grok it], Trump didn't silence anyone; these guys are the ones ditching their audiences.

Country/folk singer Kristy Lee scrapped her January slot to preserve what she called her integrity, and the Doug Varone and Dancers company axed their April dates, whining they couldn't "step inside this once great institution." Of course it's their call, but don't pretend it's anything but a TDS-fueled tantrum.

Sure, artists cancel for all sorts of reasons: sickness, emergencies, or straight-up political freak-outs. But Grenell dropped a bombshell, claiming he's heard directly from booked acts that CNN and The Washington Post are actively emailing them, pushing boycotts of the Trump-Kennedy Center.

If that's accurate, and there's zero reason to doubt Grenell on this, it's outright interference, the media acting as left-wing activists trying to sabotage a national institution. Classic. It lays bare the left's entitlement: they think they own places like this, and if Trump touches it, they'll burn it down so nobody else can enjoy it. The real victims? The fans and patrons who lose out because orange man bad.

This is peak liberal hypocrisy on display, and it's glorious to watch it backfire.

If you like Brain Flushings and want to Buy Me a Coffee, I would appreciate it, as it supports my work and my coffee drinking habit. Obviously, there is no pressure but I certainly wouldn't stop you from doing me that solid. Imagine, you could be the first on your block to do that and your friends will thank you . . . for some reason. 

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