Iran's president warned that an attempt by the United States and other nations to target the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would be taken as a declaration of war and could trigger an all-out conflict.

The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) is looking into possible violations stemming from a protest by anti-ICE demonstrators at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota, on Jan. 18, according to officials. Earlier, the DoJ warned Don Lemon that he is on notice for potentially violating the FACE Act. Don Lemon live-streamed […] The post What? DoJ Is Probing St. Paul Church Assault After All appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

The richest man in the world made the biggest move yet in the Republican Senate primary in Kentucky, donating $10 million to help a friend of Vice President JD Vance win the seat of retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell. Elon Musk’s $10 million to a political action committee that backs Nate Morris is the largest single donation the SpaceX and Tesla CEO has ever made to a Senate candidate, Axios reported. Morris, a 45-year-old businessman whose ancestors live in Appalachia, is friends with Vance, whose family also has roots in Appalachia. Morris is running in what promises to be a tightly contested race between Rep. Andy Barr and former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, two conservatives with strong name recognition in the state. Musk’s donation was reported on Monday, around two months after the billionaire met with Vance for a dinner at the vice president’s residence. The dinner also included White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich, according to Axios. Morris has supported Republican candidates since 2004 when he donated to President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign. In 2024, he donated $50,000 to Trump’s super PAC. He has also been one Senator Rand Paul’s biggest supporters and friends, and helped connect the libertarian-minded Republican to potential donors for his 2016 presidential bid. Paul is now one of the president’s most vocal critics in Congress. Morris recently spoke to Musk about his opposition to McConnell and the so-called establishment wing of the Republican Party, The New York Times reported. He was endorsed by the late conservative commentator Charlie Kirk shortly before Kirk was assassinated, and has also been endorsed by Sens. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and Jim Banks (R-IN). As of January, the limited polling data for the GOP primary showed Morris far behind Cameron and Barr, but with four months until the primary and with major help from Musk, Morris is set up to be competitive in the race. President Donald Trump has not yet an endorsement in the Kentucky Senate race. Musk’s donation to the Morris-aligned super PAC shows that the billionaire is ready to open his checkbook for Republicans in the 2026 midterms, but also suggests that Musk will be strategic about who he backs. Musk clashed with Trump and Republican leaders shortly after becoming a senior adviser to the president last year, taking issue with Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” and what he viewed as irresponsible government spending. Musk stepped down from his position as senior adviser to Trump last May, and shortly after, suggested that he might create a third party to oppose both Democratic radicalism and Republican inaction. His third-party plans never came to fruition, and earlier this month, he reposted a report that stated he is “going all-in funding Republicans to help President Trump take back full control in the November midterms.” “America is toast if the radical left wins,” Musk wrote on January 1. “They will open the floodgates to illegal immigration and fraud. Won’t be America anymore.” Musk also reportedly donated to other Republican congressional campaigns late last year as the GOP prepares for a tough battle to maintain control of both the House and the Senate. Axios reported in December that Musk “cut big checks” for Republicans in both chambers of Congress and suggested he would donate more as the 2026 race heats up.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre responded after President Donald Trump said he was ready to abandon “peace” as the primary goal of his efforts to obtain control of Greenland. Gahr Støre confirmed on Monday that he had spoken with Trump via text about the president’s plan to implement new tariffs as leverage to force Denmark into a deal over Greenland — and that he had initially suggested a phone call to “de-escalate” tensions. “I can confirm that this is a text message that I received yesterday afternoon from President Trump. It came in response to a short text message from me to President Trump sent earlier on the same day, on behalf of myself and the President of Finland Alexander Stubb,” Gahr Støre explained. “In our message to Trump, we conveyed our opposition to his announced tariff increases against Norway, Finland, and select other countries. We pointed to the need to de-escalate and proposed a telephone conversation between Trump, Stubb, and myself on the same day,” Gahr Støre said, adding, “The response from Trump came shortly after the message was sent. It was his decision to share his message with other NATO leaders.” Gahr Støre went on to say that he’d addressed Trump’s efforts to link the actions of the Nobel Committee and the actions of the Norwegian government, explaining that the committee was entirely independent and was not influenced by the government in any way. He also offered his full-throated defense of Denmark with regard to Trump’s attempts to gain control of Greenland. “Norway’s position on Greenland is clear. Greenland is a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark on this matter,” he said. “We also support that NATO in a responsible way is taking steps to strengthen security and stability in the Arctic. As regards the Nobel Peace Prize, I have clearly explained, including to president Trump, what is well known, the prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian Government.” President Trump sparked outrage when he wrote to Gahr Støre, saying in part, “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”

A top Justice Department official says former CNN host Don Lemon is on her target list to face federal charges for his involvement in the anti-ICE protest that targeted a Church service on Sunday.  Assistant Attorney for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon said multiple crimes were committed during the protest and warned that those involved could be facing lengthy prison sentences. She also suggested that former CNN host Don Lemon could face charges for his involvement.  While Dhillon did not specify which charges would be brought, she pointed to possible violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act.  “I see various crimes that have occurred,” she told podcaster Benny Johnson on Monday. “Exactly what they are I’m not going to flag, but the FACE Act has been mentioned as one of the predicates there. In other cases, the Biden DOJ used the Klan Act conspiracy charges tacked onto the FACE Act in the case of protests outside abortion clinics to bring much longer sentences.” She also suggested that Lemon, who was embedded with the protesters under the guise of an independent journalist, could face criminal charges from his role.  “Don Lemon himself has come out and said he knew exactly what was going to happen inside that facility. He went into the facility, and then he began ‘committing journalism,’ as if that’s sort of a shield from being a part, an embedded part of a criminal conspiracy, it isn’t,” she said.  BREAKING: DOJ Announces Intention to Charge Don Lemon under the Ku Klux Klan Act. The KKK Act makes it illegal to threaten, hurt, or intimidate people to prevent them from exercising their God-given rights. HARMEET DHILLON: “The Klan Act is one of the most important federal… pic.twitter.com/GWnXAMtWc9 — Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 19, 2026 Both statutes were previously used by the Biden administration to go after peaceful pro-life protesters who demonstrated outside abortion facilities. While the FACE Act guarantees entry to abortion facilities, it can also be used to bring charges against those who intentionally interfere with people attempting to exercise their religious liberty at a place of worship. The KKK Act makes it a crime to conspire to suppress a person’s civil rights and can be punished with more than a decade in prison and hefty fines.  “The FACE Act is just the start. 
Like I said, you have material support for disruptive activities, you have conspiracy to violate civil rights, you have potentially the use of other instrumentalities to commit crimes,” Dhillon said.  Dhillon said the Justice Department is still gathering facts and getting its “ducks in a row” before filing charges.  “Come next Sunday, nobody should think in the United States that they’re going to be able to get away with this. Everyone in the protest community needs to know that the fullest force of the federal government is going to come down and prevent this from happening and put people away for a long, long time,” she added.  The church was targeted because one of the pastors on staff reportedly works for a local ICE field office. Protesters entered the sanctuary and screamed at worshipers, disrupting the service.

If there’s one key rule to American politics, it’s this: Americans do not like ugly pictures on their television. There’s a lot Americans will tolerate, so long as they don’t have to see it on their televisions. Bad things happen constantly, both around the world and here at home. In a country of 340 million people, that’s inevitable. But when bad things elevate to television on a consistent basis, people tend not to like it. And that’s what has happened with ICE activity in major cities. Who gets blamed for those ugly pictures on the television becomes the question, but it is not typically good for the elevation of an issue when raised under a particular president. If there are tons of pictures of people crossing the border en masse on our television under Joe Biden, it is not going to redound to his benefit. If there are a lot of ugly pictures on television of ICE agents confronting illegal immigrants or people who are attempting to block and tackle on behalf of illegal immigrants, it turns out that Americans aren’t going to like that either. Americans generally like the idea of Immigration and Customs Enforcement doing immigration enforcement, finding people who are here illegally and deporting them, particularly if those people are criminals. But what they do not like are pictures on their television screens of mass mobilization in the streets. They don’t like images of people being shot in their cars, even under disputed circumstances like Renee Good. Fifty-six percent of Americans thought ICE was being too tough in November; today, that number is 61%. Only about 15% say they’re not being tough enough. Among independents, only 35% say that the protesters have gone too far. The Trump administration would like to believe that Americans believe that the people being prioritized for deportation are criminal illegal immigrants, because that is who is generally being prioritized: criminal illegal immigrants. But increasingly, Americans are not feeling that. In November, 48% of Americans said that it was largely dangerous criminals who were being prioritized for deportation. Today, that number is 44%. Approval for the Trump administration’s program to deport immigrants illegally in the United States has dropped from 51% in December, down to 46% today. It isn’t about the goals; it is about the pictures. Fifty-three percent of Americans apparently say that ICE operations in the United States should be decreased. Those are not great numbers for the president on an issue where, generally, he is quite popular. But that doesn’t mean people trust Democrats. A recent poll out from the Wall Street Journal looked at which party in Congress is best able to handle border security. Since Democrats are not trusted on this issue, the Republican numbers look good. Ugly pictures on the television do make a difference. This is likely why Democrats are sending protesters into the streets now. But Democrats can overplay their hand. Right now, people are attributing the ugly images to the activities of ICE. But what happens when, for example, chaos breaks out at a church, which is what happened over the weekend, when a chaotic mob stormed through and shut down a Minnesota church over a pastor’s alleged ties to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The First Amendment does not mean that you get to walk on private property and start shouting in the middle of somebody’s business or in the middle of a church service. The FACE Act prohibits desecrating houses of worship or interfering with Christian worshipers. The DHS says they will investigate. “All of the civil DOJ agitators aren’t just targeting our officers,” said the DHS in a post. “Now they’re targeting churches to then going from hotel to hotel, church to church, hunting for federal law enforcement who are risking their lives to protect Americans.” This sort of activity by Democrats is likely to backfire. The most recent ugly image people have in their heads is the image of Renee Good. But that image can be replaced by a series of ugly images from Democrats, including, for example, storming churches. There’s a fascinating piece by Roland Fryer in The Wall Street Journal talking about the effect of protests. And one of the points Roland Fryer makes is that a nonviolent protest that does not disrupt things like church services is likely to work out better for you than being absolutely confrontational, violent, or chaotic. He writes, “When I was young, I mistook restraint for weakness and anger for honesty. What I failed to see — and what we still fail to teach students—was that Martin Luther King wasn’t avoiding conflict. He was engineering it, on terms that made progress possible.” In other words, don’t run into a church, start screaming at the top of your lungs, and hope that Americans are going to like that sort of thing — because they very likely will not. Many things are less about the policy than about the implementation. And ugly pictures, more often than not, make the difference.

Evangelism, simply put, is telling the good news, that's what the word evangelism means, to simply share with another person good news.

Can I have an assurance of salvation, or is salvation something that can be lost?