Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 1/14

[SVPete]

Patel fired 'corrupt' FBI agents in anti-Trump Arctic Frost inquiry who 'weaponized' law enforcement

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/patel-fired-corrupt-fbi-agents-anti-trump-arctic-frost-inquiry-who-weaponized

FBI Director Kash Patel revealed Monday that he had fired the “corrupt” FBI agents involved in the bureau’s anti-Trump Arctic Frost investigation who had “weaponized” the law enforcement agency after President Donald Trump on Monday shared new revelations unearthed by Just the News.

An FBI supervisor who openly opposed Trump on social media played a crucial role in igniting the controversial Arctic Frost probe in 2022 related to January 6, with the bureau special agent pressing to add the former president as a formal subject of the investigation and circulating articles from liberal activists and leftwing news sources to make his case, according to evidence recently turned over to Congress and published by Just the News over the weekend.

“These FBI Agents are total Scum, in their own way no better than the insurrectionists in Portland, Minnesota, Los Angeles, etc. Kash better get them out, NOW!” Trump said in a Monday post on his Truth Social account. “Radical Left Lunatics put in by the ‘Auto Pen’ [Biden] and Obama!”

Patel quickly responded with a Truth Social post of his own.

“Thank you Mr. President. Under your leadership, this FBI found the corrupt actors and terminated their employment last year,” the FBI director said. “America voted for the end of weaponized law enforcement, and that’s what we are delivering.”

A real investigation does not start with pre-written conclusions. Those who wrote the conclusions of the shamvestigations need, minimally, to be canned and banned from government jobs.

[SVPete]

‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ is Back: Federal Oil, Gas Permits Soar Under Trump

https://legalinsurrection.com/2026/01/drill-baby-drill-is-back-federal-oil-gas-permits-soar-under-trump/?vcrmeid=AdEPVTydE2aQ2GlvtA8qQ&vcrmiid=0oExZwPDEEuWAhaWn0tLDQ

“Drill, baby, drill” was the prime plank in Donald Trump’s platform when he ran for president.

It’s back, as oil and gas permitting has increased sharply in Trump’s second term, with federal drilling approvals and lease sales on public lands and offshore areas accelerating over the last year and continuing to surge in recent months.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management approved 5,742 permits to drill between Jan. 20, 2025 — the first day of President Donald Trump’s second term — and Jan. 6 of this year, according to data from the agency.

That dwarfs the 3,696 approvals issued over the comparable period in 2024-2025 under former President Joe Biden. BLM also held 22 lease sales in 2025, leasing some 328,000 new acres of public land across 10 states for oil and gas development.

“As promised, the Trump Administration has cut burdensome, unnecessary red tape and approved permits at record speed to unleash American energy,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement Friday. “President Trump’s energy dominance agenda is restoring the ability for oil and gas companies to ‘DRILL, BABY, DRILL’ which why gas prices have hit a new multi-year low.”

As an addendum to the article's comment about CA gas prices, yes, they are higher. This is "courtesy" of higher state taxes/fees and state gooberment harassment of refineries, but at the same time, CA gas prices are $1.00-$1.50 per gallon than the prices were during most of the LIEden MalAdministration.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ is Back: Federal Oil, Gas Permits Soar Under Trump

Opening up American domestic drilling is why we have to steal oil from Venezuela and Iran...or something.

[SVPete]

Opening up American domestic drilling is why we have to steal oil from Venezuela and Iran...or something.

Sadly, I have seen some conservatives buying the idea that the Maduro operation was all about oil. We may be hearing "No Blood For Oil" 3.0, but it's still as stupid as versions 1.0 (Gulf War) and 2.0 (Iraq invasion).

[enslaved1]

Over 12,000 feared dead after Iran protests, as video shows bodies lined up at morgue

Information trickling out of Iran on Tuesday suggests that a crackdown by authorities to end more than two weeks of widespread anti-government protests has likely been far more deadly than activists outside the country have reported. With phone lines opening back up for calls from inside the Islamic Republic, two sources, including one inside Iran, told CBS News on Tuesday that at least 12,000, and possibly as many as 20,000 people have been killed.

Britain's Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said in Parliament on Tuesday that the U.K. government believed there "may have been 2,000 people killed, there have been more. My fear is that the number may prove to be significantly higher."

The truth has been incredibly difficult to piece together due to Iran's hardline rulers cutting off internet access and phone service in the country for the last five days. While a complete internet shutdown in Iran remained in place for a fifth day, some Iranians were able to make phone calls out of the country on Tuesday, though it was still not possible to call into Iran from outside.

Information coming out is still spotty, because the Iranian government shut off the internet (apparently Musk has opened up Starlink connections) but this is mostly for the lurkers who 1) do not seem to be talking too much about this revolt against a dictatorship and 2) really think what's going on here, even if one isn't 100% on board with the administration's choices and actions, is anything close to a totalitarian tyranny.  There's more bodies in the single pictured makeshift morgue than ICE has racked up, even if one wants to argue any of those deaths/injuries were not justified self-defense.