Left playbook: Can't win the argument? Cancel the arguer.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) declared an emergency order “for the deployment of backup generation resources in order to mitigate blackouts in Texas during Winter Storm Fern.” “Issued pursuant to Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, the order authorizes the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to deploy backup generation resources at data centers and other major facilities. Today’s action follows a letter Secretary Wright sent Thursday to grid operators asking them to be prepared to use backup generation if needed to mitigate the risk of blackouts during the storm,” the DOE stated in a release. “DOE estimates more than 35 GW of unused backup generation remains available nationwide. The order will help ERCOT with the extreme temperatures and storm destruction across Texas and reduce costs for Americans during the winter storm,” it continued. Texas grid holding steady as DOE order lets ERCOT tap backup generators. The federal government issued an emergency order Saturday that could help Texas avoid blackouts as a massive winter storm continues to move across the state. https://t.co/MSCUJQQfwA — Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) January 25, 2026 More from the Department of Energy: On day one, President Trump declared a national energy emergency after the Biden administration’s energy subtraction agenda left behind a grid increasingly vulnerable to blackouts. According to the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), “Winter electricity demand is rising at the fastest rate in recent years,” while the premature forced closure of reliable generation such as coal and natural gas plants leaves American families vulnerable to power outages. The NERC 2025 – 2026 Winter Reliability Assessment further warns that areas across the continental United States have an elevated risk of blackouts during extreme weather conditions. Power outages cost the American people $44 billion per year, according to data from DOE’s National Laboratories. This order will help mitigate power outages in Texas and highlights the commonsense policies of the Trump Administration to ensure Americans have access to affordable, reliable and secure electricity. The order is in effect from January 24—January 27, 2026. “The Trump administration is committed to unleashing all available power generation needed to keep Americans safe during Winter Storm Fern,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said. “Unfortunately, the last administration had the nation on track to lose significant amounts of baseload power, but we are doing everything in our power to reverse those reckless decisions. The Trump administration will continue taking action to ensure that the 35 GW of untapped backup generation that exists across the country can be deployed as needed during Winter Storm Fern and in the future,” he added. The emergency order comes as thousands of Texans have lost power during the winter storm. “Winter storm pushes nearly 96,000 homes and businesses offline statewide Sunday, with East Texas hit hardest — Nacogdoches, Cherokee, and Shelby counties see tens of thousands dark,” The Dallas Express News wrote. “DFW metro remains largely stable with minimal outages. ERCOT grid stays normal with ample reserves — no emergency operations or rotating blackouts expected,” it added. TEXAS POWER OUTAGES CLIMB TO SIX FIGURES: Winter storm pushes nearly 96,000 homes and businesses offline statewide Sunday, with East Texas hit hardest — Nacogdoches, Cherokee, and Shelby counties see tens of thousands dark. DFW metro remains largely stable with minimal outages.… pic.twitter.com/Y5pMifk6t2 — The Dallas Express News (@DallasExpress) January 25, 2026 CBS News shared further: As of 2 p.m., over 21,000 Texas Oncor customers are without power, with the majority in East Texas, south of Tyler, according to the outage map. In the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, about 3,000 customers are without power. That includes Tarrant County, where over 700 customers are in the dark, and Dallas County, where nearly 900 remain without power and Collin County, where a little over 100 are without power. Ahead of the storm Friday, Oncor told CBS News Texas that it activated its storm‑readiness operations, increasing the number of response teams and on-site crews to help restore power. The company’s biggest concern is neighborhoods where trees may be close to power lines, because after the freezing that occurred overnight, ice-coated branches and limbs can snap easily and bring down lines beneath them. And even a half an inch can add as much as 500 pounds of extra weight to power lines. As crews work to repair lines and respond to power outages quickly in the DFW area, officials are urging customers to monitor weather alerts and potential service disruptions. “Customers can also sign up for MyOncor alerts by texting REG to 66267 and we will send them personalized notifications… about outage impacts to their specific address… put together a family emergency plan, as well as storm safety kit, blankets, bottled water… flashlights, just in case you need to withstand an extended time without power,” said Andrew Clark, an Oncor spokesperson. The wintry mix is expected to taper off Sunday, and the extreme cold will last through Tuesday this week, continuing the threat of freezing across North Texas.

Some of Australia’s beaches have been impacted by several shark attacks during the height of the busy summer season. According to CNN, approximately “40 beaches along the coast of New South Wales (NSW) remain closed after four shark attacks in 48 hours.” All the attacks have been attributed to bull sharks. #Australia: Australia's New South Wales state is reeling after four separate shark attack incidents along the coast in the last two days. Read more: https://t.co/UbJvlIGhZI#OceanConditions pic.twitter.com/iQfo9oXcae — The American Geographical Society (@AmericanGeo) January 20, 2026 CNN has more: Bull sharks typically inhabit warmer waters up the coast but move further down the coastline towards Sydney’s most popular beaches during the summer months. Last weekend saw some of the heaviest rainfall in Sydney over 24 hours for at least a decade, creating the perfect mix of conditions for potentially lethal encounters, experts say. “We do get a lot of shark sightings, or people being bumped by sharks, but to have four incidents where all the victims have been actually attacked by sharks is really uncommon,” said Steve Pearce, the CEO of NSW Surf Life Saving, whose volunteers patrol the state’s beaches on weekends. Bull sharks have the unique ability to live in both fresh and marine water. When heavy rain flushes food from the estuaries into the ocean, they tend to follow it, and feed by bite as the water quality makes it almost impossible to see. One of the attacks led to the death of a 12-year-old boy attacked by a shark at a popular cliff-jumping spot. Australian boy, 12, dies following shark attack while swimming at popular cliff-jumping spot https://t.co/9k0tkWnaxl pic.twitter.com/doXHzIIBcW — New York Post (@nypost) January 25, 2026 The New York Post explained further: A 12-year-old Australian boy who had been clinging to life after a shark attack last week died from severe injuries suffered when a suspected bull shark took a single bite while he was swimming in the famous Sydney Harbour. Nico Antic was cliff-jumping with two friends at Jump Rock near Shark Beach in the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse just before 4:20 p.m. local time on Jan. 18 when he entered the water outside the area protected by anti-shark nets. The enclosures are physical barriers designed to reduce the chances of large sharks entering designated swimming areas. While in the water, Nico was bitten once by the shark on both legs, causing catastrophic injuries and massive blood loss. Authorities said major tissue and blood vessels were severed by the vicious bite. Immediately after the attack, one of Nico’s friends jumped into the water and pulled him toward the rocks. Another friend helped lift Nico onto a rock platform as emergency responders rushed to the scene. Police and emergency crews applied tourniquets in an effort to stem the bleeding before transporting Nico by boat to a nearby ferry wharf. An ambulance then rushed him to the hospital, where he received a blood transfusion during transport after the tourniquets proved insufficient to stop the blood loss. Within hours, Nico underwent emergency surgery at Sydney Children’s Hospital in Randwick and was placed into a medically induced coma. 9 News Australia provided further coverage:

Democrats in Virginia have passed a bill out of committee that allows government bureaucrats to receive unlimited taxpayer funding to buy a house. Gov. Spanberger and the rest of the Democrats ran on “affordability.” The only thing that will be affordable are houses for their voters. They already give $25,000 grants. Now, there is no […] The post Virginia “Affordability” Democrats Are Giving Away Homes to Their Voters appeared first on www.independentsentinel.com.

Former CNN host Don Lemon said on Sunday that he believed the Trump administration would “go around a judge” if necessary to prosecute him for disrupting a Minneapolis church service alongside radical protesters. Speaking to fellow former CNN host Alisyn Camerota — now a special events anchor for Scripps News — Lemon repeatedly professed his innocence, claiming he was only observing the protest as a journalist. Lemon claimed that the Trump administration would prosecute him by any means necessary, even if it meant having to “retrofit” laws or circumventing a judge. A federal appeals court ruled on Friday that the Justice Department established probable cause to charge former CNN host Don Lemon and four others over the anti-ICE church storming in Minneapolis last weekend. The appeals court, however, declined to force a lower court judge to sign arrest warrants. WATCH: Camerota described Lemon as “calm,” “resolute,” and “unapologetic” — and said that he truly believes his actions were protected under the First Amendment because he was acting solely as a journalist at the time. Noting that one judge had already denied the Justice Department’s request to charge Lemon for his role in the protest — a protest that has resulted in three arrests thus far — Camerota asked Lemon what he thought might happen in the coming weeks. “I’m not naive. I think they’re probably going to try again and again as they did with Tish James and Comey and everyone. If one doesn’t work, then they try something else and that fails, and they try something else and then they just don’t give up because they, you know, they want to save face, but I don’t know what’s next,” Lemon said. “I think what’s next is that I have to be in it for the long haul and to, you know, and just to be strong, as always, and keep calm and carry on.” Lemon went on to say that he fully expected the Trump administration to step outside the law if that was the only way to get him, claiming that they were targeting him specifically because he was the “biggest name” involved. “If there’s no law to fit, they will try to fit or retrofit something or go around a judge and just do it themselves. And it doesn’t matter and everything that they say pertains to protesters. I was not a protester. It’s very clear about that. If you look at all the evidence, I’m not a protester. And so I think Alisyn — not that I think I know — I was the biggest name. And so if they get a Don Lemon, woohoo, that’s a victory and also I’m the one who put the information out there.” Lemon joined a large group of anti-ICE protesters who stormed Cities Church in Minneapolis last Sunday during a worship service because one of the church’s pastors is believed to be an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Three of the anti-ICE agitators who organized the church storming have been arrested by the FBI, including Black Lives Matter activist Nekima Levy Armstrong.

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Which states in the USA are known for the best food and what are the dishes most associated with each state? A new poll has the answers. A survey of 5,000 Americans—split evenly by state—explored sentiments about each region’s homemade dishes and which are the tastiest. The top state chosen for best food was California—with […] The post What Dish Represents Each State and Which US Region has the Best Food? New Poll. appeared first on Good News Network.

Federal judges in Minnesota have rejected the Justice Department’s charges against some of the anti-ICE agitators who invaded a church during service earlier this month, and others have released multiple defendants, even as the Justice Department has appealed some of these decisions. After the Justice Department filed charges against eight agitators for depriving churchgoers of their rights to exercise their religion under the First Amendment, Magistrate Judge Douglas L. Micko declined to issue arrest warrants for five of the defendants, and struck down charges against the others. The Justice Department appealed the denial of the arrest warrants, a move that Patrick Schlitz, chief judge of the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, said is unprecedented, at least in the courts under the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. The Justice Department claimed that the agitators would likely disrupt a church service again, and many of the leaders have stood by their decision to disrupt the service. Here are five things to know about the cases. 1. The Church Invasion Between 30 and 40 anti-ICE agitators interrupted a Sunday service at Cities Church, a non-denominational Christian church in St. Paul, and shouted, “Justice for Renee Good!” as they surrounded members of the congregation.  Videos of the incident show the pastor and others repeatedly asking the agitators to leave, and the agitators chanting, “Who shut this down? We shut this down!” This is not peaceful protest. This is an invasion of a sacred space. Anti-ICE agitators disrupted Cities Church in the middle of service. Warning: the agitators on the Left are serious. The man who posted this video bragged about doing this—comparing it to Jesus flipping over… pic.twitter.com/BeeIdubpwM— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) January 19, 2026 According to the charging document, a member of the congregation said worshippers were “terrorized, our children were weeping.” One woman broke her arm. Agitators blocked about 50 members of the congregation from exiting, making it “nearly impossible for parishioners to get out and leave.” The document also mentions that agitators prevented congregants from getting to their children, and one of the agitators reportedly told young children, “Do you know your parents are Nazis, they’re going to burn in hell?” ?HORRIFYING NEW DETAILSThe invasion of Cities Church was even worse than we thought. Agitators blocked stairs so "parents were unable to get to their children" at Sunday School.?One told a kid, "Do you know your parents are Nazis, they're going to burn in hell?"?1/7 pic.twitter.com/DUNPRdECGa— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) January 25, 2026 2. The Defendants On Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that law enforcement had arrested Nekima Levy Armstrong, Chauntyll Louisa Allen, and William Kelly, who posted videos of the invasion online under the handle “DaWoke Farmer.” Yet Magistrate Judge Micko rejected arrest warrants for the other five defendants. While the published version of the charging document redacts the defendants’ names, clues in the document suggest that Lemon and Jamael Lundy each face charges. The charging document quotes an exchange between Lemon and Cities Church Lead Pastor Jonathan Parnell. The pastor tells the former CNN host: “It’s shameful to interrupt a public gathering of Christians in worship.” The document also notes that one defendant “identified himself as a current candidate for Minnesota State Senate, District 65.” Lundy, the intergovernmental affairs director for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, is running to represent that district in the Minnesota Senate, and he appeared in videos with the organizers before the church invasion. 3. Church Invader Charges The Justice Department brought two charges against the church invaders: deprivation of rights under the Ku Klux Klan Act and violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances or FACE Act. The Klan Act criminalizes depriving people of their civil rights, such as the free exercise of religion, while the FACE Act protects access to churches. Judge Micko approved the warrants for Armstrong, Allen, and Kelly, but he struck the FACE Act charges, writing, “No probable cause.” Micko denied the arrest warrants for the five other invaders. Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, praised the magistrate judge’s decision. “The magistrate’s reported actions confirm the nature of Don’s First Amendment protected work this weekend in Minnesota as a reporter,” Lowell told Fox News Digital.  Screenshot 4. The Appeal Patrick Schiltz, chief judge of the U.S. District Court of Minnesota, explained in a letter how the Justice Department went about appealing Micko’s decisions. “It is important to emphasize that what the U.S. Attorney requested is unheard of in our district or, as best I can tell, any other district in the Eighth Circuit,” Colloton wrote. If the prosecutor does not like a magistrate judge’s decision, he or she can either improve the filing and present it to the same magistrate judge, or present its case to a grand jury to seek an indictment. Colloton said he would not make a decision until conferring with his colleagues at a bench meeting, but the meeting got postponed. He plans to make a decision after a lunch meeting on Tuesday. Schiltz noted that the U.S. attorney’s office stated that “there are plans to disrupt Cities Church again on Sunday.” He said that the government “does not explain why the arrests of five more people—one of whom is a journalist and the other his producer—would make Cities Church any safer, especially because that would still leave ‘dozens’ of those who invaded the church on Sunday free to do it again.” 5. Church Invaders Released The Sherburne County Jail, which had held the defendants, released them Friday after District Judge Laura Provinzino rejected the government’s appeal. Prosecutors claimed that Armstrong and Allen posed flight risks and requested that the court hold them or require them to post $10,000 cash bail. Judges often grant pretrial detention in cases where defendants are accused of violent or other serious crimes or pose a flight risk. Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, pledged to aggressively pursue these cases. “We’re going to pursue this to the ends of the earth,” Dhillon told Megyn Kelly about the cases, particularly the charges against Lemon, the former CNN host. ? IT'S OFFICIAL: Assistant AG Harmeet Dhillon is AGGRESSIVELY pursuing charges against Don Lemon for storming the Minnesota churchGood, do NOT let radical judges protect him!DHILLON: "When I first saw the video that Don Lemon himself put out about his conduct that day, it… pic.twitter.com/ubrrCcKfvO— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 25, 2026 Cities Church’s attorneys have suggested that they are considering civil cases against the church invaders. The post 5 Things to Know About the Minneapolis Church Invasion Case appeared first on The Daily Signal.