“Instead of placing new data centers on the existing regulated grid, we could match data centers with an independent CRE utility (CREU). Furthermore, if electricity demand for these data centers falls short of its sky-high projections, then the excess capacity will have been a poor investment. This protects ratepayers by putting private companies on the hook for that risk instead. There are benefits to data center developers as well.” (01/27/26)
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by the editorial board
“Amid a fraught political environment, Americans are preparing to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States this year. It’s a timely opportunity for both honest self-reflection and potential unity – around a remarkable story of national achievement and a recognition of all that still needs doing to fully realize the country’s founding ideals. Two-thirds of Americans, the Pew Research Center reported this week, believe it is extremely or very important to publicly discuss historical strengths and successes – as well as flaws and failures. Yet, the nation still disagrees on how to tell its history.” (01/28/26)
“On January 17, federal agents murdered ICU nurse Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis after he tried to help another protester. Only 10 days earlier, an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother. These horrific acts of state violence occurred just a short distance from where a white police officer brutally murdered George Floyd in 2020. This is what state violence has always been — horrific and brutal. And once President Trump unleashed his ICE goons on cities across America, these tragedies were inevitable. As Americans, we should all pray for an end to this state terror. Sadly, history tells us the murders of Alex and Renee are unlikely to be the last. When I see federal agents in our cities and violent attacks by masked men on thousands of people assumed to be undocumented immigrants, I recognize an old playbook dressed in new language.” (01/27/26)
“Several faith leaders are urgently calling for protecting the rights of worshippers while also expressing compassion for migrants. That’s after a group of anti-immigration enforcement protesters disrupted Sunday service at a Southern Baptist church in St. Paul, Minnesota. … the behavior of Walz, Ellison, Frey, or whoever (including the ‘protesters’ who invaded the meetinghouse), do not justify or demand more laws or calls for more government action ‘protecting the rights’ and ‘sanctity of our houses of worship.’ For one thing, we don’t need new laws – we need to get rid of most we have.” (01/27/26)
“Even a few weeks ago, my position on something like the murder of Alex Pretti — sadly not an uncommon occurrence, as cops kill hundreds, sometimes thousands, of Americans per year, many of them unjustifiably — was well outside the Overton Window. … The shots that killed Alex Pretti shattered the window entirely. Not just because it was obviously cold-blooded murder, but because the few government and ‘law enforcement’ officials who tried to justify it were so clownishly dishonest and cartoonishly evil in their deliveries that no one with a shred of self-esteem could pretend to, and no one with an IQ over 40 could actually, believe them.” (01/27/26)
“Late last year, YouTube announced plans to reinstate accounts that had been banned at the behest of the Biden Administration for posting alleged COVID-19 misinformation. The announcement likely came as a relief to groups like the Children’s Health Defense Fund, a group associated with Robert Kennedy Jr.; and to Senator Ron Johnson; both of whom were punished by the social media giant for posting videos that ran contrary to the Biden administration’s official policy on the COVID-19 vaccine and on COVID-19 treatments. This is a good move. But we should remember, it wasn’t just YouTube that decided to punish speech disapproved by the prior administration.” (01/27/26)
“The Trump administration, being the Trump administration, immediately set about lying about what had happened, and the usual politics of gun rights were immediately flipped on their head, with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem insisting that [murder victim Alex] Pretti had been an armed rioter, which is — I do not suppose this even needs saying at this point — not true. Among others, the president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Law Center affirmed: ‘I see nothing that Mr. Pretti did that was unlawful,’ at least with respect to his gun. But strangely, a great many people who sometimes call themselves libertarians began to insist that when an officer of the state gives you an order, your choices are: 1) comply meekly; 2) get gunned down. Ernest Hemingway had their number way back in 1940: ‘There are many who do not know they are Fascists, but will find it out when the time comes.'” (01/27/26)
“When President Trump authorized a strike to capture Venezuela’s president, Nicolas Maduro, without congressional approval, it was the latest manifestation of the increasingly common belief by presidents that they have broad unilateral authority when it comes to military operations. The Constitution’s original meaning, however, belies this notion. As I have developed at more length here, the Constitution’s ‘declare War’ clause allocates to Congress — and by implication denies to the president — the power to initiate hostile military action against foreign nations.” (01/27/26)
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
by Greg Lukianoff
“Governments are always tempted to blame words for violence they can’t control. If “heated rhetoric” were enough, dissent would disappear whenever officials felt threatened — which, of course, would end up being all the time. The speech that federal officials have criticized in Minnesota seems like protected political dissent, not obstruction or conspiracy. That raises the discouraging possibility that the point of the Justice investigation isn’t to bring charges that will stick. Rather, it may be to use the threat of prosecution to chill speech. That’s not law enforcement. It’s ideology enforcement, backed by mob-like bully tactics.” (01/27/26)
“Before Alex Pretti was shot and killed Saturday by federal forces, he was defending two women who were being violently shoved after challenging Border Patrol agents. The minute that agent started pushing those women with little provocation beyond whatever words were exchanged, Border Patrol relinquished control of the situation. The scrum that followed — as multiple agents pounded Pretti on the ground — was chaos. Chaos that eventually turned deadly, as agents saw that Pretti was carrying a gun. Much as they did after Good’s death, administration officials tried to control the narrative of what happened, blaming the victim.” (01/27/26)
