BUNKERTIME: Iran’s supreme leader retreats underground, warned of likelihood of US airstrikes: report.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has gone underground, reportedly hiding out in a bunker out of fear of being wiped out by US airstrikes — as the USS Abraham Lincoln steams toward the Persian Gulf.

The 86-year-old supreme leader has moved to a fortified shelter in Tehran connected to a series of elaborate underground tunnels after senior military officials warned of the increasing likelihood of an imminent US attack, Iran International reported, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Faster, please.

THE LEFT DOESN’T WANT YOU TO KNOW THIS ABOUT ALEX PRETTI, THE MAN THE BORDER PATROL SHOT: “We already knew that Pretti was carrying a loaded handgun and two extra loaded magazines when he showed up at an active ICE operation targeting a violent criminal illegal immigrant. And like Good before him, Pretti wasn’t some random citizen. He was part of an organized network dedicated to interfering with immigration enforcement. And he brought a loaded gun. Cam Higby from Newsmax spent days undercover inside the Signal messaging groups these activists use to coordinate their efforts. What he found was stunning in its sophistication. These aren’t just angry citizens showing up to protest. This is a well-oiled machine running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Related:

MINNESOTA’S AMY KLOBUCHAR IN 2006: Build That Wall!

Indeed. Here’s Klobuchar in 2026: Dems “are focused on getting ICE out of our state.”

WOULD THAT FEWER CHRISTIANS WERE (WILL BE) PRODIGALS: It’s an experience many professed followers of Jesus go through and typically don’t realize it at the time (myself included). It’s probably cold and dreary outside where you are, so snuggle up in your favorite chair (hopefully by a roaring real or simulated fire in a fireplace), and check out these five signs you may be (or headed to becoming) a prodigal son or daughter.

THE FINAL DAYS:

 Washington Post Cancels On-Site Winter Olympics Coverage Ahead of Expected Layoffs.

The Wrap, Friday.

Washington Post sports desk reportedly could be shuttered entirely.

Awful Announcing, today.

Washington Post Reporters Have Sent ‘Plea’ To Jeff Bezos:

The Spun, today, which contains this classic malapropism: “Bezos, who could probably fund the Washington Post with his couch cushion money, has been pleaded with by reporters.”

Who does he think is paying to keep the lights on there? At least for now (hence the headline, a classical reference to what the Post views as its glory days). As Ira Stoll wrote in 2024: Who Will Be the Washington Post’s Next Owner?

Now the Post staff is worked up into a panic over a British former Wall Street Journal executive’s plan to bring in editors from the Wall Street Journal and the Telegraph to run the place. The supposed trigger is the British press’s use of “stolen” documents, but that seems like a pretext coming from the staff of a newspaper that published the Pentagon Papers. The real issue isn’t stolen documents (the Post staff didn’t mind when the New York Times published President Trump’s stolen tax return) but fear that the new Post management might curb the left-wing tilt. Whatever the motive, Bezos is under fire from his own staff, which is questioning his loyalty to the institution. One Post veteran editor and reporter, the biographer David Maraniss, posted on Facebook, “Jeff Bezos owns the Post but he is not of and for the Post.”

As I wrote back then, Bezos must be thinking, “I’m not? If I’m signing your paycheck, I’m ‘of and for the f***ing Post.’”

WHO’S TO BLAME?

In contrast:

OLD AND BUSTED: 2020’s Summer of Love.

The New Coldness? 2025’s Winter of Love!

ROGER SIMON: Ice Storm! The End Is Nigh!

In 2021, something like that happened in Texas when 246 people died, not to mention a passel of chickens, because the storm engendered a national shortage.

We’ve been listening to numerous television reminders of that episode, plus advice on what to do—roll up towels and put them at the bottom of doors to conserve heat, open cupboards, turn on all faucets to a trickle to prevent pipes from freezing, and so on. (Had I had the brains to purchase a generator, most of this wouldn’t be necessary.)

And of course, we are supposed to charge all our electronic devices to the top and whatever battery backups we have. Luckily, I was smart enough to pick up some of those, and they are dutifully plugged into myriad outlets around the house. But who knows how long they will last?

All day we have had snow, harmless enough, but the serious ice action is slated to begin in the small hours of the morning. We may wake up to find ourselves without heat in single-digit weather.

If all else fails, we could go into the garage and sit in the Tesla.

Which makes much more sense than sliding across the slick southern roads this weekend in a $243,000 Maserati MC20:

INSURRECTION:

PROF. BAINBRIDGE: Should Law Professors Dress for Success?

I always wear a suit and tie on the first day of the semester, and the reasons are aptly captured here:

We showed up at law school many years ago not really knowing what to expect. But our civil procedure professor — Richard Friedman at Michigan — showed up on the first day dressed in a suit. It made a helpful impression on us — an impression not so much about Friedman but law school generally. It made us sit up and say to ourselves, ‘oh, right. This ain’t undergrad. We’re being trained for a profession here.’ And that, in retrospect, wasn’t an entirely bad chord to strike early on, we thinks.

I do it out of respect. The rest of the time I generally wear nice pants, a polo shirt, and a nice sportcoat or something like that. It’s a professional environment, and students need to be reminded of that.

ROGER KIMBALL: The Countdown to Iran’s Liberation Has Begun.

At the moment, the regime seems firmly in control. The populace is behind bars. The Ayatollahs and their minions command all the firepower.  But that situation is inherently unstable. The people cannot be held at knife or rifle point forever.  Moreover, Donald Trump will not countenance the world-historical enormity perpetrated by the Iranian mullahs and their death squads. Today, tomorrow, or possibly early next week, Khamenei and his coterie of murderous weirdos will go to meet their fate. Will they be surprised to find not 72 virgins but squadrons of B2s, F35s, and Tomahawk missiles?

Faster, please.